


The Watcher Chronicles: The Rest Of It

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Series: Watcher Chronicles [4]
Category: Highlander: The Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-28
Updated: 2010-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-08 02:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/71850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rest of The Watcher Chronicles "canon".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode 1.04

Because I'm not going to finish this, so, here's what there is of the WIP.

 

**Episode 1.04: Rite of Passage**

I have 18 pages of 1.04 and I don't really like what I have. Essentially, it's a newbie-POV-episode, which gets lantered in the opening bit.

(yes, it is revealed in subsequent episodes just why Ruth March was involved in that fight)

And that's kind of the entire episode. Emanuel being the new-audience's stand in, the Exposition Excuse. And to do that, he's being really cringingly new and stuff. That kind of stuff, uh, doesn't really interest me.

Here's what I have of the episode, with some parts taken out, and notes on what would happen next.

\--

We were all young once. We were all once the lowest in the pecking order. We all once tried to peer into the world of the adults and the experts, wondering when it would be our time to join them.

Welcome to _Rite of Passage_, also known as the first point-of-view episode. This episode ushered in Emanuel Donaldson as the audience's entrée into the world of the Watchers. The fact that it happened four episodes into the series doesn't really matter. Whenever the series needed to show something that it felt needed to be explained to the audience, enter Emanuel, stage left.

Children and newbies have always been used in this manner. It's an excuse for a lot of exposition. What sets this apart is that this is not the pilot episode; the audience is already expected to know a lot about the Watchers. The majority of the audience this early on the series were holdovers from _Highlander: The Series_, and the ones that weren't had already had three episodes to get them situated into this world. By this point, the show runners hoped that the new audience was getting settled and was willing to stay. It was time to explain things.

Remember, until this point, there was no reason for the new audience to know what a Quickening was. They didn't know how Immortals died. It was still murky on just what Adam's relationship to the Watchers was. Adam and the Watchers become much clearer in _All Quiet_, which was filmed concurrently with _Rite of Passage_, but that theme enters into _Rite of Passage_ as well. Even as Tom and Methos are having a (presumably off-the-record) conversation, they are being watched.

But keeping with a constrained point of view brings its own problems. Because Emanuel is so far down on the totem pole, there are many things to which he is not privy. It therefore happens that the first true sword fight of the series is with an opponent who Emanuel, and the audience, does not know, and occurs for a reason that Emanuel, and the audience, does not understand. Emanuel sees only snippets of the real world, the world that field agents live and breathe. As a researcher, it's his job to collect and analyze data, not record it. In the end, he is simply joy-riding and nearly gets killed in the aftermath of a situation he doesn't understand.

There's a reason Emanuel never passes his field agent exam. And, it turns out, that's for good reason.

_ -Zack Liu, television historian, extracted from The Watcher Chronicles: A Retrospective_

 

INT. RESEARCH LIBRARY, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER

EMANUEL DONALDSON sits hunched over a large tome, which is a centuries-old chronicle. He has three more books spread out in front of him, one of which is a dictionary. He is looking back and forth between the chronicle and his reference material. He has some minor cuts and bruises on his face, arms, and hands. He has one of those flex bandages on his nose. He looks like he got into a fight with some inanimate objects and lost.

The bell tower starts to chime the hour. EMANUEL slams his reference books shut, and then carefully closes the chronicle. He grabs his jacket and bag and sprints out of the room.

At the door, he is joined by two other researchers. They are NATE PARKER and MARIE DRAKE. He pauses only to fall in step with them. They run through the halls of Watcher HQ, backlit by the setting sun through the large windows in the hall. They come to a halt outside what appears to be a door to a broom closet.

MARIE opens the door and we see that it is a lounge. The decor looks very cheap and second-hand, nothing at all like the tasteful and expensive furniture seen elsewhere in the HQ building. This room is more dorm room than sitting room.

Three other junior researchers are there already. EMANUEL takes off his bag and puts it on the floor. He rummages through it, then pulls out a much-cherished camcorder.

NATE:  
Okay, meeting called to order.

MARIE:  
Whatcha got, Manny?

EMANUEL opens the viewfinder on the camcorder and starts to play back what he had recorded. The junior researchers all gather around it.

EMANUEL:  
_[deepening his voice to sound like the guy from the movie trailers]_ Ladies and gentlemen. I give you, taking a Quickening.

 

CREDITS.

TITLE CARD: 48 HOURS EARLIER

INT. SECOND FLOOR, TOM RAMIREZ'S HOUSE

CAMERA PANS across a cookie-cutter middle-class street in a cookie-cutter middle-class neighborhood. There are stop signs and street lights and lawns that could do with professional care. Some houses have porches with swing seats. Others have the detritus that comes from having young children. There are more than a few bikes leaning against concrete steps.

CAMERA FOCUSES on one house, as cookie-cutter as the next, with an appropriately messy lawn and an appropriately chipped paint job. CAMERA PUSHES through a window on the second floor.

We enter through a darkened bedroom. The house is owned by TOM RAMIREZ and serves as the informal headquarters of special projects when the project involves anyone based out of Seacouver HQ. It is also the temporary home of EMANUEL DONALDSON, who moved in a month ago.

EMANUEL creeps out of his room and leaves the door slightly ajar behind him. He crouches at the top of the stairs and peers through the stairwell at the two men sitting at the dining room table, eating take out. They are TOM RAMIREZ and METHOS.

We hold on EMANUEL'S point of view.

TOM:  
Well?

METHOS:  
It's good enough.

METHOS hands TOM back a photo-copy. It is how the Harris Incident has been reported in the Methos Chronicle.

METHOS:  
They'll stay away from Joe now?

TOM:  
They should.

METHOS:  
But that's not all. _[pause]_ I mean, you could have just slipped this to me.

TOM:  
I'd like your expert opinion.

METHOS:  
_[amused]_ My what now?

TOM:  
Hypothetically...

METHOS:  
All right.

TOM:  
There's a pre-Immortal Watcher. A researcher, never done any field work. We know he's pre-Immortal because he's attracted an Immortal to him and the Immortal has taken him under his wing. And it's become a situation we can't ignore anymore.

METHOS:  
This sounds familiar.

TOM:  
It's not just you covering your ass this time.

METHOS:  
So what happened?

TOM:  
Security breach of the greatest kind. We've contained it and the researcher is sitting in a cell in Geneva right now. But it's a problem.

METHOS:  
Are they debating cutting his head off?

TOM:  
No. But it's a serious concern considering what he did.

METHOS:  
I don't get details?

TOM:  
_[hands him a thick file folder]_ Here's what he was charged with.

METHOS:  
_[skims it, looking impressed at the audacity]_ How'd he get that far without someone noticing?

TOM:  
He's good. So good that the internal affairs investigator "accidentally" cut his arm with a pocket knife during preliminary questioning to ease her mind.

METHOS:  
Still human.

TOM:  
If we just let him rot in that cell, he won't become Immortal?

METHOS:  
Hard to know for sure. No one's ever been able to get enough reliable data.

TOM:  
Hypothetically speaking only--

METHOS:  
If you used a sword?

TOM:  
Yes.

METHOS:  
Even harder to know. Reports are mixed, and it's not something I could witness myself for obvious reasons.

TOM:  
I had hoped we would have something in the archives from a reliable source, but even Horton left absolutely no notes.

METHOS:  
Another reason he should have been taken out and shot. He did shitty research.

TOM:  
What do you suggest we do?

METHOS:  
You could always execute him. That _would_ have been the punishment, right?

TOM:  
Yeah. Even this Tribunal wouldn't have blinked. A couple of them want to do it themselves. They're mad as hell about this.

METHOS:  
So, kill him, he jumps back up, voila.

TOM:  
And then becomes another Watcher-hating Immortal.

METHOS:  
Why? You'll be doing him a favor.

TOM:  
He doesn't know he's pre-Immortal.

METHOS:  
The fact that he's still breathing after pulling a scheme like this hasn't tipped him off?

TOM:  
He thinks he's wrapped up in appeals.

METHOS:  
You don't appeal betraying the Watchers to Interpol.

TOM:  
He's in research, not legal. It keeps him distracted while we figure out what the hell to do with him.

METHOS:  
Well, your two choices are killing him or letting him go. Killing him would seem the safest option.

TOM:  
_[surprised]_ You're suggesting we use a sword on him?

METHOS:  
If I weren't in the picture, if you knew for certain that I would never find out, you wouldn't have thought twice.

TOM:  
Probably not.

METHOS:  
Then what's the problem? One law for mortals and Immortals alike. You would have killed a mortal. Kill the Immortal.

TOM:  
That's--

METHOS:  
He's been tried and found wanting.

TOM:  
Adam, are you _high_?

METHOS looks over his shoulder at EMANUEL. EMANUEL jumps up in surprise and scurries up the stairs. We hear METHOS laughing as EMANEUL closes the door quickly behind himself. He leans back against the door, resting his head.

Muffled sounds come through the door, as we FADE TO BLACK.

 

INT. BUS

FADE IN

It is the next morning. EMANUEL DONALDSON is standing up, one arm hooked around a pole as the bus moves through traffic. He is wearing black jeans and a royal blue Oxford shirt and has a brown messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He has a crossword puzzle in his left hand. It is partially filled in. Another rider looks over his shoulder at the puzzle.

RIDER:  
It's trapeze.

EMANUEL:  
What?

RIDER:  
5 down. Trapeze.

EMANUEL:  
Oh, thanks.

EMANUEL fills it in with a pencil. The bus stops. It is EMANUEL'S stop. He gets off, jostling with the crowd. He walks away from the bus stop, then slips the crossword into his back pocket. He looks up at an imposing building across the street. He takes a deep breath, then crosses the street.

 

INT. SEACOUVER HISTORY MUSEUM, MAIN ENTRANCE

EMANUEL DONALDSON walks through the main doors. He heads to the main desk. He pulls out a photo ID and a membership card. He takes a tag and ties it through the straps of his bag. He heads back towards the exhibits.

 

INT. SEACOUVER HISTORY MUSEUM, SPECIAL EXHIBIT AREA

This is a large, impressive exhibit space. It is currently filled with a special exhibit on ancient Egyptian history. Because it is a weekday morning and too early for school groups, there are very few people there.

METHOS and RUTH MARCH are walking through the exhibit area and pausing at various displays as they talk. RUTH has a pad of paper in front of her, she is ostensibly taking notes. The tone of the conversation is light and, at times, mocking.

RUTH:  
What made you decide to become an Egyptologist?

METHOS:  
I used to visit my great-uncle on digs when I was a kid. It was fascinating.

RUTH:  
But you're not an archaeologist.

METHOS:  
I'm easily sunburned.

RUTH:  
Sunblock, Dr. Pierson.

METHOS:  
Why bother? I'd have to blow the entire budget on it.

RUTH:  
I'm sure the financial backers would be thrilled.

METHOS:  
Great-uncle Ben never had this problem. Between you and me, I blame my mother's side of the family.

RUTH:  
Why?

METHOS:  
They're all pasty Norwegians.

RUTH:  
_[stops in front of a display and seems to be studying it intently]_ One day I will find out where you're actually from, and you will never hear the end of it.

METHOS:  
Good luck with that one.

RUTH:  
Like you'd tell me if I ever got it right. But you're certainly an honorary Egyptian by now.

METHOS:  
It's a nice vacation spot.

RUTH:  
_[agreeing]_ Giza's a good touch stone. The pyramids aren't going anywhere.

METHOS:  
Well, the pyramids aren't. But imagine my surprise when I first saw that the Sphinx's nose was gone.

RUTH:  
You mean you weren't the one to take it?

METHOS:  
I like the keep my souvenirs portable.

RUTH:  
You never did send me that postcard from Tokyo.

METHOS:  
Time and tide wait for no postcard.

RUTH:  
How true.

METHOS:  
You never sent me one from Shanghai.

RUTH:  
And let my husband know there was another man in my life?

METHOS:  
_[surprised]_ Husband?

RUTH and METHOS walk between two columns into another room of the exhibit. AMY THOMAS follows at a distance, admiring many of the artifacts. Once they are all gone from the room, EMANUEL DONALDSON stands up from where he had been sitting in a corner, appearing as just another anonymous art student sketching the displays. He stretches, then finds another spot, one that lets him see into the other room, and goes back to pretending to sketch.

 

INT. BUS

We see through the bus windows that the sun is setting. EMANUEL DONALDSON is sitting on a bench. He is one of the few people in the bus. He is traveling in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic. He pulls out the sketchbook and flips through it. Only the top few pages have drawings. The rest have detailed notes crammed together.

He looks around the bus and makes sure no one is looking at him. He pulls a pocket-sized book out of his bag. The battered cover reads FIELD MANUAL and the spine is well-broken. EMANUEL opens it to a spot near the front and starts to read.

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK

INT. JOE'S BAR

EMANUEL DONALDSON sits at a booth with MARIE DRAKE and NATE PARKER. They have enough bar food in front of them to feed six people and are working their way through it systematically. EMANUEL has his sketchbook open on the table and it is covered with twenty or so tic-tac-toe games. Whenever a Watcher enters the bar, one of the three lifts the page up and writes down their name in the sketchbook.

We hold on their point of view.

AMY THOMAS breezes in. She is wearing a business suit and has just come from classes at the law school. She walks up to the bar and settles down in front of TOM RAMIREZ. TOM leans down, putting his forearms on the bar. They talk in low voices for a moment, then TOM straightens up and brings her a drink and half a sandwich. Someone calls from the other end of the bar and TOM heads down there.

JOE:  
Hey, Amy.

AMY:  
Hey, Joe. How are things?

JOE:  
Pretty good.

TOM heads back over to them and JOE goes to chat with another regular.

TOM:  
How've you been?

AMY:  
My feet are killing me. I've been running all over the city all day.

TOM:  
Support's always looking for good people.

AMY:  
_[gives him a dirty look]_ Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

TOM:  
I thought your reports said that Ruth was working on a major project now. Why is she leading you on wild goose chases?

AMY:  
She's working on it with our ex-Watcher friend.

TOM:  
_[pats her on the shoulder]_ Consider it a rite of passage. You, too, have been run ragged by Adam.

AMY:  
Do I get to learn the super secret handshake now?

TOM:  
No handshake, but you can buy Joe a drink sometime and commiserate.

AMY:  
What about you? Can I buy you a drink?

TOM:  
Sure, but how 'bout a movie ticket instead?

AMY:  
_[pause]_ I'd love to.

JOE:  
_[coming up from behind him]_ Flirt later, Tom. You're on duty now.

TOM:  
Yes, sir.

AMY:  
Sorry, Joe.

AMY takes her sandwich and her drink and moves to sit at a table. The traffic in the bar resumes as normal. Our three intrepid junior researchers keep to themselves in the corner.

The bar door opens and a woman comes in. She is of above average height and wearing a long black duster. Her hair is braided in a long ponytail. She walks up to the bar. Her name is TINA ROLLA.

TOM and JOE clearly know her. TOM nods at her and JOE pulls a bottle of beer from behind the bar and hands it to her.

JOE:  
Hey, Tina. How was the flight?

TINA:  
Crowded and with crying toddles. I'm going to need more than one drink.

JOE:  
We'll keep 'em coming.

TOM:  
Which hotel did he end up choosing?

TINA:  
Holiday Inn on Grant Street.

TOM:  
_[jots it down on a bar napkin]_ I'll get a guy on it.

TINA:  
No rush. We just crossed ten time zones. Even they need to crash sometimes.

JOE:  
What about you?

TINA:  
I sleep fine on planes. It's one of the perks of air travel being perfectly normal for all of my lifetime.

JOE:  
_[sympathetically]_ He grip the arm rests a lot?

TINA:  
It's better than the times he's tried sleeping pills. He once overdosed on them over the Atlantic. Not a pretty sight.

TOM:  
Was he the one who tried horse tranquilizers once?

TINA:  
That's my boy. I'd feel all proud and maternal, but I can still hear those screaming kids.

TOM:  
Invest in ear plugs.

TINA:  
I did.

TOM:  
_[scribbles something else down on the napkin]_ I've got you down as checking in, Tina. Now, if you'll excuse me.

TOM heads over to one of the tables that had recently been vacated to clean up.

TINA:  
Busy tonight?

JOE:  
Lots of traffic in and out. If you saw the sign on the door, we're closed to the public today, private party.

TINA:  
Is your special project stirring things up?

JOE:  
_[shakes his head]_ No, not Adam. He's been quiet as a mouse this week. But there are a bunch of major events going on in the city to celebrate its birthday and if I didn't know better, I'd bet their main demographic are Immortals.

TINA:  
Were you around for that time in London?

JOE:  
I couldn't get away from Paris at the time. But, yeah. We're counting ourselves lucky we don't need to set up a booth at the airport.

TINA:  
Any interesting attractions I should check out before I go?

JOE:  
Well, speaking of Adam, he put together an exhibit for the history museum on Ancient Egypt. Exhibit's really good, too. It's got Kim Greenwood running in circles trying to prove that Adam was there during the period he chose to focus the exhibit on.

TINA:  
Egypt's never been my style. Is there anything more modern?

JOE:  
Sure. But I bet you don't mean the modern art gallery.

(scene keeps going)

The door opens. Another Watcher comes in and EMANUEL starts to turn around.

A hand comes down and grabs his sketchpad.

TOM:  
Gimme that.

TOM rips out a couple pages.

TOM:  
Enough.

 

EXT. STREET CORNER

EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking home. The street is lit by lamps. He wanders around, kicking stones absently as he goes. As he comes up to TOM RAMIREZ'S house, he stops. He checks the license plate numbers on the cars parked near the house. Visibly disappointed, he pulls out his key and goes inside.

 

INT. JOE'S BAR

It is the next morning, bright and early. The bar is not yet open. EMANUEL DONALDSON is standing behind the bar. He is wearing a brown t-shirt with a faded Queen logo and blue jeans. JOE DAWSON is standing next to him. There are various implements and ingredients of the trade spread out before them.

JOE is teaching EMANUEL how to mix drinks. The action continues through the dialogue, improvisation is encouraged.

JOE:  
You begin with the basics. Watchers aren't hard drinkers, but every so often someone comes in off the street and wants something fancy. But it's nothing too hard. Everything has the same basic process. Not that hard to learn.

EMANUEL:  
How'd you learn how to do it, Joe?

JOE:  
Guy in the bed next to mine bartended his way through high school. It was useful, something to do with your hands.

EMANUEL:  
Oh.

JOE:  
When your legs are gone, you'll take any distractions you can get. I got real good at poker, too.

EMANUEL:  
I can't really see you as a poker shark.

JOE:  
Who, me? I'm harmless. _[grins, showing a lot of teeth]_ Way back when, I used to clean Kim Greenwood out of half his salary. Adam would take the other half.

EMANUEL:  
Wow.

JOE:  
Kim got back at us by charging us under the table for sword consultations. It all evened out in the end. These days, I guess he could write it off as expenses for the Methos project.

EMANUEL:  
Do you guys, uh, still play poker with, uh, Adam?

JOE:  
Not often. Kim lets Adam poke him with swords few times a month to make sure he's not getting rusty now that he's back in the game. That blows off enough steam for both of them, I guess.

EMANUEL:  
Yeah, guess it would.

JOE:  
Once upon a time, before you'd start a Watcher poker tournament, you'd flip a coin if you'd even let Adam buy in. He's that good. These days, he's got a regular Immortal game going.

EMANUEL:  
Ruth March is part of that, right?

JOE:  
_[bluntly, but still kindly, almost fatherly-though-still-disapproving]_ I read reports, kid.

EMANUEL:  
_[blushes]_ She's...I mean, she's hot, like, really hot. And I know Tom says I need to stop focusing on older women, because I need to date people my own age, but it wasn't like that--

JOE:  
_[holds up hand]_ Relax, Manny. It's okay. You're not a field agent, we know you weren't trying anything. Tom chewed you out, it's over. But you need to learn to stay away from Immortals. It's not safe.

EMANUEL:  
Tom ask you to talk to me about that?

JOE:  
Yeah. _[hands EMANUEL a lime and a knife]_ He's worried about you. But chop this first. And then we'll start talking more complicated drinks.

EMANUEL:  
And you taught Tom how to do this?

JOE:  
Yeah, of course. Two, three years ago. Why?

EMANEUL:  
Nothing. I just thought, you know, in college.

JOE:  
What?

EMANUEL:  
_[blushing]_ I was six!

JOE:  
_[laughing]_ Tom may have worked at a bar in college, I don't know, and he's probably tapped a few kegs in his life, but he definitely wasn't tending bar in his apartment at Berkley. Your mom would've driven up and dragged him home.

EMANUEL:  
He always seemed so cool. Like he knew everything.

JOE:  
He's an older brother. It comes with the territory.

EMANUEL:  
Yeah, I guess. You an older brother, Joe?

JOE:  
Mm-hmm.

EMANUEL:  
Do they ever get over, you know, treating us like we're still six?

JOE:  
Nope.

EMANUEL:  
Damn.

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK

INT. THE RAMIREZ-DONALDSON HOUSEHOLD

EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking through the hall, dressed in hideous polka dot beach shorts and a loose tie-dyed shirt with MIT screen printed on it. There is a knock at the door.

EMANUEL opens the door. AMY THOMAS is standing on the other side.

EMANUEL:  
Hi. Tom's not here right now.

AMY:  
I know. Can I come in?

EMANUEL:  
Yeah, of course.

EMANUEL stands aside. AMY walks in. She looks pointedly at EMANUEL'S clothes. He blushes.

EMANUEL:  
What? I'm doing laundry. I wasn't expecting visitors.

(scene continues)

 

EXT. DESERTED STREET - NIGHT

EMANUEL DONALDSON is walking through an old residential area. It is cold and drizzling. His hands are pressed deep into his coat.

Suddenly, EMNAUEL stops. From somewhere in the distance is the sound of a swordfight. EMANUEL breaks out into a run towards the direction of the noise, then skids to a halt, looks around, and starts walking towards the right, doing his best to stay in the shadows.

 

EXT. OUTSIDE OF AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING

The building is boarded up and derelict. The swordfight it taking place inside what was a gym. It is on the ground floor, and there are holes in an exterior wall. EMANUEL DONALDSON settles down on a pile of bricks and leans forward, watching. After a moment, he pulls his camcorder out of his messenger bag and holds it very low down, filming as carefully as he can without taking his eyes off the action.

 

INT. AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING

Swordfight. RUTH MARCH is fighting a MALE IMMORTAL who is a few inches taller than her. It is a well-matched fight. As much as you can discover things about someone from how they swordfight, this is what we can tell about RUTH: she is capable, underhanded, and willing to press and use every advantage. She is fast on her feet, but doesn't waste any blows or any power. She is not showy. She'll do what she came here to do and then go home.

She wins the fight. She stands over her opponent.

QUICKENING. It is loud and big and turns the derelict building even more derelict.

 

EXT. OUTSIDE OF AN OLD ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING

There is a pile of rubble and rubbish. EMANUEL DONALDSON is partially covered by it.

AMY THOMAS enters the frame and grabs EMANUEL by the arm and pulls him up.

AMY:  
Manny, what the hell are you doing here?

EMANUEL moans.

AMY:  
Jesus Christ. Let's get you home.

(end scene)

COMMERCIAL BREAK

INT. JUNIOR RESEARCHERS'S LOUNGE, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER

We are back to where we started.

(tag scene goes on)

 

\--

Essentially, the point of this episode is Exposition. A lot of Exposition. Oh, and character embarrassment. Hmm, no wonder I didn't finish it. Also, you can tell that I'm not sure what I'm doing with Amy and Emanuel's interactions this early on. Amy humors Emanuel because she likes Tom, Emanuel sees Amy as his potential sister-in-law. I don't really understand their rhythm until Amy finds out that Emanuel's pre-Immortal, at which point she becomes older-sister protective of him, but also holding-herself-back and wary, because she knows she'll be Watching him eventually and is already starting to figure out how that would work. But they get along much better after that.

 

* * *


	2. Episode 1.05

  
**Episode 1.05: All Quiet**

I have 26 pages of this one in Word and it's much closer to finished than 1.04. This one could be subtitled "yes, this is written by Lanna". aka, It's A Fricking Lot Of Dialogue. Also, lots of backstory.

This episode is about Kim and Methos, but mostly Kim. Kim is a character I have totally fallen in love with, to the point where I OTP him both with Methos and with Joe (and OT3 him with Methos/Joe). I think the world is ending; I usually see Methos as being very not-sexual. Maybe it's because I took the very-sexual MacLeod out of the picture, but suddenly I can totally see Methos as seducing someone because he is interested in a long-term relationship, and not just seducing him because 1) scratching the sex urge and then moving on, or 2) manipulation.

Kim is...Kim has Ideals-with-a-capital-I and the purpose of the show is, in short, to totally destroy his ideals and drag him through the mud, etc. You know how Highlander: The Series is about taking Duncan MacLeod from being Happy (Not)Married to being I Will Let O'Rourke Kill Me? Well, this show is about taking Kim from Idealist to You-All-Can-Go-Fuck-Yourselves. Emanuel's character arc is him growing up, becoming an Immortal. Mirroring that is Kim's fall from (moral) grace, and him being forced to accept that his life won't allow him to live in the terms of moral absolutes in which he would like to live.

Kim ends the series as being very, very bitter, having been chewed up and spat out. I definitely see there being a post-series movie (made for tv, most likely) in which he's spent a few years away from it all, has a Boyfriend, and is starting a new life. _And just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in_, and he has to go help save the day. And at the end of the movie he has to choose, and he leaves again, because he has given them everything he has, and he'd like to salvage what's left of how he thought his life would be.

(Yes, I know, breaking your toys means you can't play with them anymore. But it's breaking him for artistic purposes! Also, it means that there could be AUs and hurt/comfort and everything else that makes the world go 'round. Everybody wins!)

\--

As dialogue-heavy as All Quiet is, it is probably the most important episode in Season One, and some might call it the most important episode in the entire series. Unlike the more exciting episodes, All Quiet is, well, entirely quiet. There are no big bangs, no big sword fights, no big blow up or arguments. There are, instead, only conversations. Many conversations.

Without All Quiet, you would never have had The Most Dangerous Game. You would never have had A Rose For Methos. You never would have had the entire back end of the series. It's hard to imagine what kind of discussions we would be having about News At Eleven if All Quiet hadn't given us the timetable all the way back in the fifth episode of the first season.

And don't be fooled. It is a timetable. Methos has been playing a long game with the British government and with the Watchers and things are coming to a head very quickly. By All Quiet, the fifth episode, the series absolutely had to have hit its stride and set out its goals and major plotlines, and it certainly accomplished that. All Quiet serves the dual purpose of being a point-of-view episode, giving us a glimpse into Kim Greenwood and when he is willing to break the rules he holds so dear, and also serves to set the stage for the outing of Immortals, Watchers, and for Methos's bargain.

The one-two punch of All Quiet and The Western Front should be understood in context as building blocks and foundation stones. On them is built everything that comes after. _Highlander: The Series_ took a supremely moral individual and destroyed him completely. All Quiet is where we discover just what the Watcher Chronicles's damage is.

-Jem Noren

 

INT. BASEMENT, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER

This is the den of special projects. It is a dark sub-basement, lit by bare florescent bulbs. The ambience has been designed to make you want to leave as soon as possible. KIM GREENWOOD is walking through a large room with bare walls and bare wooden shelves. He hears shouting and walks towards it. We hold in GREENWOOD'S point of view.

TOM RAMIREZ:  
_[shouting; in progress]_ This isn't some kind of video game, Manny! This isn't a light show! Somebody died! We do not put these things on film! We observe and record, yeah, but we don't fetishize their deaths! And what the hell were you doing, following Ruth March? This isn't a game and you need to stop treating it as one! This is life, Manny, it's real, and people get hurt. _You_ could get hurt! This is unacceptable. You are so damn lucky you're not getting written up for interference.

The CAMERA angle inside shows EMANUEL DONALDSON, sitting morosely on an old brown couch, his legs folded under him. TOM is standing across from him, his back to the wall. TOM looks up as GREENWOOD approaches.

TOM:  
_[switching mid-breath from before, no pause]_ What is it, Kim?

GREENWOOD lifts up the file folder he is carrying.

GREENWOOD:  
Your eyes only, then destroy.

TOM:  
Okay.

TOM crosses the room and takes it from him. GREENWOOD nods to EMANUEL.

GREENWOOD:  
G'night.

GREENWOOD turns on his heel and leaves. As he walks away, TOM resumes shouting. It fades out as GREENWOOD enters a stairwell. He walks up several flights of stairs, taking some two or three at a time, and exits the stairwell.

 

INT. HEAD OFFICE OF THE METHOS PROJECT, WATCHER HQ, SEACOUVER

KIM GREENWOOD enters the office and begins packing up for the night. He opens a drawer deep in his desk and places his briefcase inside. He closes the drawer and twists his wrist, activating a lock. He shuffles newspaper sections on his desk back into some kind of order, then folds them and tucks them under his arm. He picks up his coat from a coat rack and drapes it over his arm. He closes the door behind him as he leaves the office.

GREENWOOD takes the front stairs down to the ground floor of Watcher HQ.

GUARD:  
Good night, Dr. Greenwood.

GREENWOOD:  
Good night.

GREENWOOD walks out the door and over to a side parking lot. He unlocks the passenger side door and puts the newspaper and his coat inside. He opens the driver's side door and gets inside. He puts the key into the ignition, then picks up his cell phone from a pocket of his coat.

He hits the speed-dial and waits for the call to go through.

GREENWOOD:  
It's Greenwood. All quiet?

VOICE:  
All quiet.

GREENWOOD:  
All right. I'm on my way to do the nightly check now. See you soon.

GREENWOOD hangs up. He turns the car on and drives off. The CAMERA PANS over Watcher HQ as it gets settled for the night as we FADE OUT.

 

CREDITS.

INT. WATCHER'S APARTMENT

This apartment is field HQ for the Methos Project. It has several bedrooms for the Watchers who rotate through here in shifts. Most of the time, it is a very boring assignment.

KIM GREENWOOD opens the door. He is carrying several bags from the local deli. He puts them down on the table. Several Watchers immediately go over and start picking their way through their dinner. The sound they make is very muted and kept very much in the background.

GREENWOOD wanders through the apartment and stops in the main surveillance room. He stares through the window at METHOS'S apartment. Through the window, we can vaguely see METHOS sitting on his couch in the dark watching Zorro on television.

 

FLASHBACK - KIM GREENWOOD, PARIS, 1988

TITLE CARD: PARIS, 1988

INT. MARCUS CONSTANTINE'S CLASSICIST POKER NIGHT

Eight people are sitting around a card table. Chips are piled up beside each of them. The game has been going on for a long time. The weekly event is hosted by MARCUS CONSTANTINE, an Immortal museum curator. Among the attendees are AMY ZOLL, METHOS, and KIM GREENWOOD. GREENWOOD keeps sneaking glances at everyone. It is obviously his first time at one of these events.

 

INT. CAFETERIA, WATCHER HQ, PARIS

It is the next morning. KIM GREENWOOD walks into the cafeteria and looks around. He looks startled to see METHOS there. GREENWOOD picks up a tray and some food and then sits down at the table across from METHOS.

GREENWOOD:  
You're a Watcher?

METHOS:  
You're always this observant?

GREENWOOD:  
Just surprised. How many Watchers are there on Marcus Constantine? I didn't think he'd need that many.

METHOS:  
He doesn't. _[offers his hand]_ Adam Pierson, Methos Project.

GREENWOOD:  
_[shakes his hand]_ Kim Greenwood. Research at-large, mostly.

METHOS:  
I've heard of you. You're the sword guru.

GREENWOOD:  
When you go to university on a fencing scholarship, they expect you to know something about swords. I overcompensated.

METHOS:  
They've got you working field now?

GREENWOOD:  
Not exactly. I'm temporarily daylighting at the museum. It's stretched a bit thin on the ground when it comes to field agents who have the technical expertise to blend in around ones like him. So I've been deputized. It's back to carbon-dating once the next class graduates. What about you?

METHOS:  
I'm a classicist in Paris. It's a small world. But it's good poker.

GREENWOOD:  
I'll say. You got half my salary.

METHOS:  
You did well for a bookworm. I got all of his last assistant's.

GREENWOOD:  
Bet you wish you could have specialized in gambling instead of...

METHOS:  
Dead languages, ancient history, doing six impossible things before breakfast. That's why they gave me the Methos Project.

GREENWOOD:  
_[grins]_ Do linguists fence?

METHOS:  
Not in years. I used to when I was younger. Sabre, mostly.

GREENWOOD:  
Ever think about picking it up again?

METHOS:  
_[casual]_ Sometimes. Why?

GREENWOOD:  
Trade you sabre lessons for poker lessons.  
[  
METHOS:  
What?  
]  
GREENWOOD:  
I need a practice partner and I need to be able to keep paying my rent.

METHOS:  
That's the worst pick-up line I've heard in years.

GREENWOOD:  
I'll throw in some beer. Think about it, Pierson. You, me, weapons, alcohol. What could possibly go wrong?

METHOS:  
_[laughs]_

 

END FLASHBACK

INT. WATCHER'S APARTMENT

KIM GREENWOOD lets the drapes fall back down over the window. He turns around to see various Watchers looking at him. He clears his throat.

GREENWOOD:  
Well?

PAUL:  
Quiet day. Morning jog, coffee with the usual suspects, off to university. He ate dinner during office hours, then conducted night classes. And now he's back.

LUCY:  
He said to remind you to get out more.

GREENWOOD:  
What?

LUCY:  
_[reading off a paper]_ "Oh, and tell Kim to get out more. His tan is peeling." I did office hours with him today. Rotating bi-weekly schedule with Gene.

GREENWOOD:  
Don't TAs do their own office hours?

LUCY:  
Only near exam time.

GREENWOOD:  
For future reference, you don't need to pass on every comment he makes about me. If he wants to chat, he knows how to use a phone.

PAUL:  
Maybe he just wants more attention.

GREENWOOD:  
Performance reviews don't write themselves.

PAUL:  
I'm just saying, it's been a month since he's practiced with you.

GREENWOOD:  
He's my assignment, not my puppy. Methos does not do cries for attention.

PAUL:  
He hasn't practiced since then. At all.

GREENWOOD:  
Is there a particular reason why you think I should care?

LUCY:  
Maybe it's a sign of depression. You could get a paper out of it.

PAUL:  
He has a free morning tomorrow.

GREENWOOD:  
_[is not amused by this conversation at all]_ And I'm in meetings. And if you keep letting Adam get to you like this, I'm taking you both out of the field.

PAUL:  
Yes, sir.

GREENWOOD absently flips through prepared reports.

GREENWOOD:  
I want a list of everyone who's been in and out of his office who isn't one of his students.

LUCY:  
Sure, I can have that to you tomorrow. But, um, why?

GREENWOOD:  
Something's wrong.

PAUL:  
What?

GREENWOOD:  
I'm not sure. Something feels off.

PAUL:  
How so?

GREENWOOD:  
It's too quiet.

PAUL:  
This isn't some Michael Bay film, sir. Things are allowed to be quiet.

GREENWOOD:  
_[shakes his head]_ I don't like it. Call me if anything happens. Even the pizza guy showing up. I mean it.

PAUL:  
All right.

 

INT. BACK ROOM OF JOE'S BAR

The lights in the room are off. The room is illuminated from the television on a stand in the corner. Watching the television is JOE DAWSON, the proprietor of the bar. The bar is closed for the night.

JOE is watching a video of LAURA AYERS-BRENNAN giving a lecture. AYERS-BRENNAN is the mother of AMY THOMAS and is the woman with whom JOE had a brief affair while in the Watcher Academy. Although JOE is AMY'S biological father, he did not have any part of her life until her father died and she discovered who her biological father was.

AYERS-BRENNAN is a dark-haired woman a couple years older than JOE. The video is of a lecture she had given at the Watcher Academy some years before. She is standing in front of a power-point presentation. The colors are slightly washed out in the video. The Watchers do not waste budgets on cutting edge technology for videotaping lectures.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
_[mid-introduction]_ In about any other environment, you could take a course in medical ethics, or journalistic ethics, or scientific ethics. Welcome to the only academy where you're going to get a course on Immortal ethics.

The slide changes in the background of the video. JOE is watching AYERS-BRENNAN'S face, not the presentation. It is clear that this is not his first viewing.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
To be an Immortal is not to recognize that the survival of the individual is more important than the survival of the group, but to recognize that the survival of the individual can be the _same_ as the survival of the group.

She clicks through to another slide.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
Imagine everyone you love is dead. Everyone you hate is dead. Everyone you've ever known is dead. Everyone in your ethnic group is dead. Everyone who ever lived who's ever heard of your ethnic group is dead. Congratulations, you're nearly every Immortal over the age of four hundred circa two thousand years ago.

There are muffled shouted questions on the tape.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
_[continues]_ A higher population means more Immortals, which means more challenges, which means more deaths, which adds up to a practically zero chance of living to see your first century. Most ancient Immortals have backgrounds we can't even begin to discover. Population centers were dominated by older Immortals who were immigrants, not native born. Survival rates are higher for Immortals from sparsely-populated areas because they had a much smaller chance of encountering a headhunter. While there are some ancient Immortals whose backgrounds we can reliably trace, they are few and far between.

She clicks through slides showing ancient Rome, Alexandria, etc, as well as various archeological digs.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
So now you're an Immortal with a few centuries under your belt and no one has any idea who you are, what you are, or where you came from. You may be one of the lucky ones and subscribed to a religion that wasn't too different from the ones surrounding you, so at least there are some things that are still familiar. You might still run into a religious practice you recognize. You might be luckier still and have had your first death around the age of thirty. It's a lot easier to fake twenty years of not aging when you're thirty or older. When people expect you to keep maturing or settling into your body, they'll notice when you don't, and you have to keep moving.

She clicks through slides showing what appears to be different people, but at further glance, is the same Immortal, aging herself carefully and using improvised disguises.

AYERS-BRENNAN:  
So, in addition to losing all your old roots, you also can't establish new ones either. Unless you're really lucky, which most weren't. Here and there, you'd find a village or a clan that would take you in, but that was up to chance. Oh, and did I forget to mention you can't have kids?

Inside the room, there is a small sound of a door opening and closing.

GREENWOOD:  
I didn't realize you were an Isolationist.

JOE hits the remote and the video pauses.

JOE:  
_[without turning around]_ Sometimes. I've spent the last few years trying to reconcile what Methos says with what he does.

GREENWOOD:  
Never easy.

JOE:  
No, it's not.

GREENWOOD:  
Me, I mostly think of myself as a Realist Communalist. There's only so much I can pity guys who can live forever. But the Brennans can put together a good argument for Isolationism, I'll give 'em that.

JOE:  
Laura's never been a true believer. Norman, her dad, was, but Laura...I used to think that she didn't even see Immortals as people, but as interesting subjects to be studied.

GREENWOOD:  
It's a common problem among us academics.

JOE:  
Still thinking of yourself that way?

GREENWOOD:  
It's hard to break the habit.

JOE:  
Yeah, but, hell, most of those theories don't hold any water in the real world, and the Academy, at least, knows it. They're still working at rewriting the book after the Tribunal declassified my debriefing. But it's slow going.

GREENWOOD:  
The man who can classify Methos hasn't been born yet.

JOE:  
It's not Methos they're really interested in, it's MacLeod. They're talking mostly about Methos as a gateway to understanding the ones like MacLeod.

GREENWOOD:  
And if you throw enough cards onto a table, you'll eventually find the one you were looking for.

JOE:  
It's not all grasping for straws. I wonder if knowing Methos and what he did will save MacLeod from making that kind of mistake down the road.

GREENWOOD:  
But Methos is an anomaly no matter how you look at him.

JOE:  
It's not him they're looking at. Like I said, they're academics. They're looking at patterns. MacLeod's gone on murderous rampages, too. Can we generalize to a point where we can actually talk about Immortal ethics without sounding like we're trying to find new and better ways to make ourselves feel superior?

GREENWOOD:  
To some extent, this entire organization is about feeling superior. But they're going to have the last laugh.

JOE:  
If we're very lucky, yes.

GREENWOOD:  
_[pause]_ What do you know?

JOE:  
Nothing and I don't suspect anything. But I do worry. It happened twice under my nose. What else am I ignoring because I don't want to see it?

GREENWOOD:  
Would it help if I said that I think the safeguards will work this time?

JOE:  
Too many people know that Adam is Methos.

GREENWOOD:  
Half the organization knows. But you're right. Two is one too many. Actually, one is probably one too many.

JOE:  
I'd sleep better if Methos disappeared into some godforsaken place tomorrow and I never heard from him again.

GREENWOOD:  
No. You wouldn't.

JOE:  
_[sighs]_ You're right. I wouldn't. But I'd like to think I'd trust him to keep his head attached without me around to check.

GREENWOOD:  
He's survived this long.

JOE:  
This world is too small for him. Maybe this world is too small for Immortals at all.

GREENWOOD:  
You heard about the case Tom is working?

JOE:  
Yeah. The Watchers are too big. Any security leak could be the one that blows this all to hell and back.

GREENWOOD:  
We've been lucky.

JOE:  
No, not really, when you think about it.

GREENWOOD:  
Ever wonder what it would be like, if everyone knew?

JOE:  
The only thing that would save us would be that no one would believe it.

GREENWOOD:  
Yes, they can fake anything in a good enough movie studio. But eventually, too many things would add up.

JOE:  
I just hope I don't live to see the big reveal.

GREENWOOD:  
I give us five years at this rate. Either Immortals need to stop being so damn careless about where they have their fights, or this stops being a secret very, very soon.

JOE:  
Five? Hah, I give us three.

GREENWOOD:  
Methos would probably give us less than that. _[He smiles to himself, self-mocking]_ But he's already making preparations. That's what I need to talk to you about.

JOE:  
Yeah, he could be in Ecuador tomorrow and invisible the day after that.

GREENWOOD:  
No, nothing like that. What do you know about his friends in British Intelligence?

JOE:  
That you're not supposed to know about them because if it gets into his Chronicle, you'll probably have a fatal Tom-related accident?

GREENWOOD:  
Yeah. Exactly.

JOE:  
You bastard.

GREENWOOD:  
Look, I'm not an idiot. I know where he's getting these fake IDs from. I know where he's getting that supplemental income from. I know why he's been a British citizen for over a century, when no sane Immortal would ever risk that.

JOE:  
And you're leaving it out of the Chronicle? You? Mr. Perfect Watcher?

GREENWOOD:  
Can the sarcasm, please, Joe.

JOE:  
Who else knows?

GREENWOOD:  
How the hell should I know?

JOE:  
What do you need to know about it?

GREENWOOD:  
How much does British Intelligence know about us?

JOE:  
I really couldn't say.

GREENWOOD:  
Uh-huh.

JOE:  
You think Methos tells me about his big secret plans to cover his own ass?

GREENWOOD:  
You know you've got a British passport under the name Julian Deerhorn?

JOE is speechless.

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK.

FLASHBACK - KIM GREENWOOD, GENEVA, 1990

TITLE CARD: GENEVA, 1990

KIM GREENWOOD is sitting alone at a poker table. There is a sword laid out in front of him with a scabbard lying next to it. He has several sheets of paper spread out, most of them sketches of the sword, with minor notes here and there. Careful viewers will realize that this sword is the one METHOS carries.

METHOS walks over to him, holding two shot glasses. He puts one down in front of GREENWOOD.

METHOS:  
Nice sword.

GREENWOOD:  
Yeah.

METHOS downs the shot, then picks up the bottle from beneath the table. METHOS and GREENWOOD drink throughout their conversation.

METHOS:  
Then what's the emergency?

GREENWOOD:  
The sword doesn't actually exist.

METHOS:  
I don't know about you, but I'm not drunk enough to be hallucinating.

GREENWOOD:  
Smartass.

METHOS:  
Where'd you dig up your not-existing sword?

GREENWOOD:  
Archives. Real deep. It was an off-shoot of the director's collection, back when the director got to keep all the cool stuff and never tell anyone about it.

METHOS:  
And that's different from now, how?

GREENWOOD:  
This isn't catalogued, Adam. I've been looking for two weeks now. There's no record of it anywhere.

METHOS:  
Wow. What did the chief archivist say?

GREENWOOD:  
I haven't told her yet.

METHOS:  
You just said, what? Hi, Gloria, I'm going to take this sword for carbon dating now, and don't worry that you've never seen it before?

GREENWOOD:  
All the senior archivists and half the junior ones are at that seminar in New York. I'm minding the desk while they're gone.

METHOS:  
And there's no record and you just walked out with it?

GREENWOOD:  
_[affronted]_ I didn't just walk out with it! I signed it out at the archivist's desk and got the check from security to take it out of the building.

METHOS:  
It's the same thing, Kim. You're always taking swords in and out and they never check your paperwork.

GREENWOOD:  
I wanted your opinion on it.

METHOS:  
_[possibly a little too quickly, but smoothly, and very very carefully]_ What? Why?

GREENWOOD:  
Because of what I found with it.

GREENWOOD pushes one of the papers over to METHOS. It is covered with painstakingly copied hieroglyphics.

GREENWOOD:  
You're the only one I know who can read this.

METHOS:  
Why did you take this out of the archives?

GREENWOOD:  
Because that one there. That one is the one for Methos. It's all over your notes.

METHOS:  
_[quietly]_ Yes. It is.

GREENWOOD:  
So I needed to talk to you. I needed to know.

METHOS:  
If this belonged to Methos?

GREENWOOD:  
_[looks down at the table, then up at METHOS. He suddenly looks very old and very tired, like it is costing him a lot to go through with this conversation]_ I need to know if this is too dangerous for me to have.

METHOS:  
What?

GREENWOOD:  
Look, Adam, I know the Watchers are hiding a lot about Methos and some of the older Immortals. I know that some things are classified that you wouldn't normally think would be. I need to know that if I show up at a conference here at the Academy and say I found Methos's sword in the director's collection, if the Tribunal is going to have some problems with that.

METHOS:  
They aren't going to like you digging around the director's dirty secrets, that's certain.

GREENWOOD:  
Why would any director hide a find as major as Methos's sword?

METHOS:  
_[with heavy emphasis]_ Because maybe he didn't find it.

GREENWOOD:  
You can't mean what I think you're saying, Adam.

METHOS:  
I'm not saying anything. But there are a lot of secrets that the Tribunal keeps, you're right about that. If someone had proof that Methos was dead, that he was taken out of the game centuries ago, and had his sword to prove it, what do you think that would do?

GREENWOOD:  
I...I'm not sure. I hadn't thought about it.

METHOS:  
People need hope. They need stories. They need ideals. Immortals are getting portrayed more and more as dangerous enemies and less and less as our, let's face it, our future gods. Have you studied the older Chronicles much? Well, I have. And I can tell you that there's been a major, a fundamental, shift in the way Watchers view Immortals. The current thinking is dangerous.

GREENWOOD looks thoughtful.

METHOS:  
Talk to some field agents if you don't believe me. Because that's what I've been doing here when I'm not giving special seminars. Talking to field agents. They're conflicted by what they've been raised to believe and what they're seeing and what their oath requires them to let happen. They see it as their duty as basic, decent human beings, to end the Game, to _interfere_.

GREENWOOD:  
But the world would be better if there wasn't a Game. Think about all the breakthroughs that could have been made if Immortals like Julia of Rome hadn't been killed.

METHOS:  
But that's not for you to decide. It's not for anyone to decide. What gives us, as Watchers, the right to interfere?

GREENWOOD:  
Some might say our knowledge. We know, no one else does.

METHOS:  
You might be surprised about who knows. But take it further. What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies?

GREENWOOD:  
What gives any Immortal?

METHOS:  
Culture. Religious belief.

GREENWOOD:  
You can't call the Game a religion.

METHOS:  
And Immortals don't have one singular culture. That wasn't my point.

GREENWOOD:  
Adam, you can't tell me not to judge someone until I understand their entire personal history. I can judge someone's actions easily enough. Some things, things like genocide, are evil no matter what the context. I don't give a damn if your mother never loved you. You don't have the right to commit wanton destruction. You don't have the right to kill someone just because everyone else is doing it.

METHOS:  
All you're saying is, give peace a chance?

GREENWOOD:  
I'm not drunk enough to have this conversation.

METHOS:  
The end result of the Game is the Prize. But what's the prize? Peace. As Poe would say, surcease of sorrow. Never having to take another head. Never having to face an old friend or an old lover in single combat. Never having to lose anyone else.

GREENWOOD:  
That's cold comfort if you've already lost everything. And don't think I haven't noticed that you're ignoring that the champion will still lose mortals he loves.

METHOS:  
Anyone who lives that long is used to losing mortals. It's losing Immortals that really gets under the skin.

GREENWOOD:  
But they're done losing Immortals. That's what you just said. So the only ones left to mourn are mortals.

METHOS:  
So what you're saying is, the best Prize would be death?

GREENWOOD:  
Surcease of sorrow. You said so yourself.

METHOS:  
You are way too drunk to be having this conversation.

GREENWOOD:  
Could you really imagine yourself eternally alone, Adam? Could you live like that?

METHOS:  
Everyone, ultimately, lives like that.

GREENWOOD:  
But you're not talking about everyone. You're talking about an endless cycle of grief, with no respite at all. How could anyone live like that?

METHOS:  
Dangerous, Kim. That's very, very dangerous.

GREENWOOD:  
Why?

METHOS:  
Would you kill the One?

GREENWOOD:  
What?

METHOS:  
You want to talk morality, Kim? Let's talk about mercy killings.

GREENWOOD:  
You're putting words into my mouth.

METHOS:  
Not as much as you think I am.

GREENWOOD:  
The One is just a myth anyway. It's impossible. You'd have to stop pre-Immortals from becoming Immortals, first of all. And no one's even sure how pre-Immortals even do it in the first place.

METHOS:  
Yep.

GREENWOOD:  
And beyond that, the Gathering is probably just a myth.

METHOS:  
Could be.

GREENWOOD:  
And now you're just mocking me.

METHOS:  
No one will know if the Gathering is real or not until it happens. And I think that any power that could call the Gathering could also ensure that we don't have any more pesky children running around.

GREENWOOD:  
And couldn't that power, then, get rid of the Game forever? Couldn't that power stop this madness?

METHOS:  
Immortals don't kill each other anywhere near as much as mortals kill each other. Why hasn't anyone stopped that from happening?

GREENWOOD:  
Don't confuse the issue. It's not even close to being the same thing.

METHOS:  
You're right. It's not.

GREENWOOD:  
What?

METHOS:  
_[amused]_ I'm conceding the point.

GREENWOOD:  
_[suspicious]_ Why?

METHOS:  
Because you're right. Nothing does give Immortals the right to kill each other. Nothing other than base desire and the search for power. The world is certainly big enough for all Immortals to live together in peace and harmony and with fluffy bunnies and sparking rainbows kumbaya.

GREENWOOD:  
Adam...

METHOS:  
But they don't. And do you know why?

GREENWOOD:  
Honestly, I have no heavenly clue.

METHOS:  
Because it's amazing. Because it feels good. Because someone killed your friend and so you killed them and you really, really like the way Quickenings feel. Because you've been taught your entire life that you need to kill to survive, so of course you believe that you need to kill to survive. Because, even today, that is a basic fact of life. Why would anyone ever question? And when you ended up fighting your old friends and old lovers, well, that was their fault, they provoked you, they made you do it. And if you were the one to start it, well, it wasn't your fault, it was just something that you did because all Immortals did it. It's just the way things are.

GREENWOOD:  
So you're saying the Game is just inertia?

METHOS:  
I'm saying, you can't even begin to understand why Immortals do what they do.

 

END FLASHBACK.

INT. BACK ROOM OF JOE'S BAR

KIM GREENWOOD is staring off into the distance. JOE DAWSON is quietly typing into a computer in the corner. Words are illuminated on the screen. We see that he has accessed METHOS'S chronicle.

GREENWOOD'S phone rings. GREENWOOD answers it and talks into it quickly and quietly. The call ends.

JOE:  
What happened?

GREENWOOD:  
_[ruefully]_ The pizza guy showed up.

JOE:  
What?

GREENWOOD:  
I need to go.

JOE:  
Because the pizza guy showed up?

GREENWOOD:  
_[suddenly grinning]_ Yes, Joe. Exactly.

JOE:  
_[calling after him as he leaves]_ Vacation, Kim! Take one! Bermuda is nice this time of year!

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK.

FLASHBACK - KIM GREENWOOD, GENEVA, 1991

TITLE CARD: GENEVA, 1991

It is a few months after the previous flashback. KIM GREENWOOD is walking through well-cultivated gardens. He comes up to a bench and sits down next to METHOS.

GREENWOOD:  
Where's the sword?

METHOS:  
What sword?

GREENWOOD:  
Don't.

METHOS:  
I put it in the collection. Like I told you.

GREENWOOD:  
It's not there anymore.

METHOS:  
Since when?

GREENWOOD:  
Since yesterday when I wanted to check something on the grip.

METHOS:  
I don't know what to tell you. It was there when I left it there.

GREENWOOD:  
It's the Methos Collection, not a lending library. Things are not supposed to just disappear.

METHOS:  
Where do you think director's collections come from? Things disappear.

GREENWOOD does not look entirely satisfied by that explanation.

METHOS:  
Look, Kim, I don't know what to tell you. I'll check again when I go back to Paris, okay? But that's where I left it.

GREENWOOD:  
I don't like that you wouldn't let me create a paperwork trail.

METHOS:  
What would you have said? Oh, look, Gloria, I found this sword, and Dr. Pierson says it belonged to Methos, so let's put it in the collection?

GREENWOOD:  
I would have thought of something.

METHOS:  
You would have had some uncomfortable questions about you snooping around the director's private collection.

GREENWOOD:  
History is more important than my pride.

METHOS:  
Who said you had to choose one or the other?

GREENWOOD:  
Adam...

METHOS:  
I'll look when I get back, okay? That's all I can promise. But I can't magic it up if the Tribunal has found a better hiding place.

 

END FLASHBACK

INT. SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY, WATCHER HQ

KIM GREENWOOD strides through the halls like a man on a mission. He turns a corner and sees AMY THOMAS, flipping through a pamphlet. She is sitting in an alcove depressed into the wall with several tables and chairs. It is lit from the sides with faux torches, and with antique lamps on the tables.

AMY:  
In a rush?

GREENWOOD:  
Methos has been playing me like a goddamn _violin_.

AMY:  
Mmm.

AMY kicks out the chair opposite hers under the table.

AMY:  
Tell me about it.

 

FLASHBACK - KIM GREENWOOD, PARIS, 1995

TITLE CARD: PARIS, 1995

INT. KIM GREENWOOD'S LAB

The swords lab is a very large space, taking up two floors in a basement. It has that enduring feel of darkness despite, or perhaps because of, all the florescent lights. The walls are lined with shelves and boxes, all full of swords and related paraphernalia. There are charts handing from free spaces and on the backs of doors, depicting historical swords. There are conversation charts spread out. The work area is vast, but the size is due to the storage aspect, not the amount of work that is done.

KIM GREENWOOD does not live here, but he gives a good impression of it. He is wearing a battered button-down shirt beneath a battered jacket, and his clothes are covered in powder and residue. On a chair in the corner, covered with plastic, are the clothes he will wear when he leaves; they are clean and not falling apart.

There is a perfunctory knock on the open door. JACK SHAPIRO enters.

KIM GREENWOOD straightens up. SHAPIRO gestures to the messy scrawl above the door which declares "abandon hope all ye who enter here".

SHAPIRO:  
Nice advertising.

GREENWOOD:  
Thanks. What'd you have for me?

SHAPIRO:  
Dawson asked us to take a second look at this.

GREENWOOD:  
Yeah?

SHAPIRO spreads out a file containing faxes, several photographs, and a hand written note.

SHAPIRO:  
The Kristin case.

GREENWOOD:  
Yeah, I heard about that one. MacLeod's kid, right?

SHAPIRO:  
We're not sure, no primary witnesses. Dawson assumed Richie Ryan--

GREENWOOD:  
The kid?

SHAPIRO:  
Yes. But there was something about it that struck him as...off.

GREENWOOD:  
Off how?

SHAPIRO:  
_[indicates the fax and note]_ In Dawson's inexpert opinion, it didn't look like Ryan's work or Ryan's sword.

GREENWOOD:  
_[musing]_ And not MacLeod's either, I assume, since he could probably give reasonable doubt for that in his sleep.

SHAPIRO:  
Yes. Admittedly, there's not much to go on, but Dawson's concerned that there's another major player involved that we don't know about and need to get a Watcher on.

GREENWOOD:  
I'll get on it, trying to match the wound to swords. But I can't promise miracles.

As GREENWOOD reaches down to pick up the paper:

FLASH of METHOS'S sword, lying on this table

FLASH of GREENWOOD handing that sword to METHOS

And we FLASH right back to Watcher HQ, where...

 

INT. BARRACKS, WATCHER HQ

KIM GREENWOOD is stretched out on a cot in a dark corner. He is wearing gray sweat bottoms and a long-sleeve gray undershirt. There is a small travel-sized pillow under his head. His eyes are open and he is staring at the ceiling.

His phone rings. GREENWOOD rolls to a sitting position and checks who is calling. When he sees, he curses lowly and runs out of the room.

 

INT. METHOS PROJECT HQ

KIM GREENWOOD is still wearing his pajamas. He is on the phone in the corner, pacing.

Someone opens the door and walks in. GREENWOOD'S head snaps up.

GREENWOOD:  
What?

 

CREDITS.  
\--

* * *


	3. Episode 1.06

**Episode 1.06: The Western Front**

It's not so much that I didn't know where I was going with this, it's more that it's harder to start something than continue it. This picks up from All Quiet, but mirroring the time period, so it's starting about halfway through All Quiet. Tom goes home after shouting at Emanuel and has a meeting with Mark Gradin. We pick up from there in The Western Front, which takes us through Tom bringing Amy into the Emanuel-as-pre-Immortal conspiracy, Mark Gradin sending a message to Methos to meet him, Methos going to meet him, and a couple others thing that are Exciting and Actiony and stuff.

But, yeah, I'm not entirely sure where I ws going with this. As I said earlier, maintaining a plot requires you to maintain a plot, and I have a lot of pacing problems with Methos's Big Conspiracy. By the end of the season, Methos is committed: he's killed off Adam Pierson Senior, but instead of disappearing, he continues living as Adam Pierson Junior. Moreover, he keeps living in the same city in which he had lived as Senior. By the end of the second season, Methos has recruited enough of the power players in Seacouver that the Tribunal doesn't get alerted to what he's doing once he starts working more openly (recruiting Tom pre-series was a key goal; once he'd done that, he could work in Seacouver without Special Projects bothering him). By the end of the third season, it's D-Day.

I need to maintain the underlying plot line of Methos working quietly behind the scenes towards the goal of the Coming Out Party in the season 4 premiere, and have it chugging along quietly without peope forgetting about it, but also without rushing it. Hence, pacing problems.

There is also the issue of what does Kim know and when does he know it. Kim's not stupid, so he is certainly figuring out parts of it along the way. But I see it as him having a lot of pieces of the puzzle, but he doesn't figure it out all the way until the middle of season 2, and part of what takes him so long is that he knows Methos so well, he just wouldn't think Methos would do something like this. But how fast Kim figures parts of it out also has to be paced out properly, so he doesn't seem like an idiot or like _Methos_ is an idiot.

I don't have a lot of this episode written out in any way I'm comfortable with. Here's what I have.

\--

 

INT. TOM'S HOUSE

We see the seen through the window, implying that the viewer is outside. TOM and MARK GRADIN are discussing something. GRADIN stands up. He shakes TOM'S hand and walks out the back door.

TOM looks up as the front door opens.

AMY:  
Don't tell me this isn't my business.

TOM:  
_[sits back down on the couch with a heavy sigh]_ I told him to lose his tail.

AMY:  
Wouldn't've helped. I knew where he was going. _[comes in and sits down on the chair METHOS just vacated]_ We need to talk.

 

INT. TOM'S HOUSE

AMY:  
I don't understand. You've made a deal with Methos.

TOM:  
You ever done something really illegal, Amy? I don't mean stalking, I mean something you'd need serious immunity for?

AMY:  
Yes.

TOM:  
_[nods]_ And someone covered for you. Someone you trust.

AMY:  
_[pause, then leans in]_ My father. _[then, quickly]_ My real father.

TOM:  
So you know what it's like. You know what it's like when you just can't follow those goddamn rules.

AMY:  
Tom, you're the one who enforces them. Terminally.

(scene keeps going)

 

TOM:  
I wanted to tell you. I wanted to ask your advice.

AMY:  
But?

TOM:  
_[ruefully]_ Your reputation precedes you.

AMY:  
I'm too worn out to write you up on treason charges.

TOM:  
Thanks. Appreciate it.

(scene keeps going, they start talking about Emanuel)

 

TOM:  
I can't let Manny pass the field agent test.

There is a beat.

AMY:  
_Shit._

TOM:  
_[quickly]_ It's not like you think.

AMY:  
_[easily]_ Of course not. You're just being his protective older brother. You know how dangerous a field assignment can be and you want to make sure he stays as far away as possible. After all, your dad already died in the line of duty. You don't want to have to tell your mom you got your brother killed, too.

TOM winces and shakes his head. He lowers his voice.

TOM:  
My dad didn't get killed in the line of duty. He was killed by Horton.

AMY inhales sharply.

TOM:  
You didn't think Horton started with Immortals, did you? He was a sociopath, he built up to it. But Horton was well-connected and, well, it looked like an accident. So Dad got a hero's funeral and they let my mom take some leave and didn't put up much of a fight when she left for good. It was less embarrassing.

AMY:  
So why did you sign on the dotted line?

TOM:  
It's what I believe in. And by that time, I knew what I had to do.

AMY:  
Right.

TOM:  
_[very quietly]_ Amy...Manny was stillborn.

AMY:  
I thought we weren't saying that out loud.

TOM:  
You don't understand. My mom got pregnant and that was great and then she gave birth and he...it...the baby was dead. And then he wasn't. She knew what she had to do. She left the Watchers, gave him a normal life, a good foundation. But mom's not going to live forever.

AMY:  
So you're collaborating with Methos.

TOM:  
He knows. He's known for a long time. He and my mom go back pretty far. But he's right, you know. This current situation can't last long. I got Manny in so he'd know what he was dealing with. I couldn't stand the thought that mom was going to let him go into his first death not knowing anything.

AMY:  
It's noble. Illegal, but noble.

TOM:  
Treason, but, hey, I'm the one in charge of killing me. It works out.

AMY:  
Who else knows?

TOM:  
You. Andreas Hofstetter at the Academy.

AMY:  
Hofstetter knows?

TOM:  
He's made sure that Manny didn't pass his field test at the Academy last year.

AMY:  
So on top of everything else, you're implicated in academic fraud.

TOM:  
Wouldn't you do anything to protect your family?

AMY:  
Yes, but my family knows what they doing, and, Tom, Manny isn't a kid anymore. He's a full-fledged Watcher. And you knowingly recruited him, knowing that he is.

TOM:  
What he _is_, right now, is human.

AMY:  
You know that won't hold any weight if you go to trial.

TOM:  
The switches happen so fast. My mom would testify that she never saw. It was a small hospital, middle of nowhere. No one's going to come forward and say they saw a baby come back to life.

AMY:

\--

Amy ends up deciding to keep Emaunel's secret. Tom, in case it's not obvious, really really really isn't the moral center of this show. ;)

\--  


* * *


	4. Snippet: Second Star To The Right

**Snippet: Second Star To The Right**

 

And here is a snippet from the episode **Second Star To The Right**. This is very very rough and is more of an outline of where Tom's head is during the episode. The episode is about child Immortals and this is where we start to see the cracks in Tom's armor. We see his breaking point, and it's the paralyzing fear that Emanuel will die before he's old enough (and now that he's old enough: before he's ready enough) to survive as an Immortal.

There is a lot of psychoanalyzing of Tom that could be done, but it does boil down mostly to: he has cast himself as Emanuel's protector and because he's The One True Protector, how he wants to protect him is the One True Way. To accomplish this, he goes behind his mother and step-father's backs to recruit Emanuel into the Watchers, he breaks a million rules and approaches Methos, he breaks even more rules and strikes a deal with Methos, and then he uterly perverts Special Projects, turning it, essentially, into another tool for Methos to use in his grand conspiracy. And he's doing it because he knows best and he wants to protect Emanuel. Because his father was killed by a rogue Watcher who killed Immortals and so, dammit, Tom has the right to use the Watchers to protect The Innocent Child because, cosmically, they owe him. Tom has romanticized Emanuel into someone to be protected and he is willing to sacrifice absolutely everything, including honor and everything the Watchers are, in order to achieve his goal. And that's before you factor in the fact that he's the Watchers's executioner.

Tom totally is not the moral compass of this show.

But he's not unsympathetic, either. He's not a monster. He's human, he's very fallible, and he has a very visible Fatal Flaw. But at the end of the day, Emanuel thrives as an Immortal. (I think Tom, post-series, spends some hard time in jail, but I haven't plotted that far in his timeline. But, yes, there Will Be Consequences.)

\--

Watcher Chronicles 1.0? Second Star To The Right

 

EXT. EVENING

It is the late fall, with a chill in the air, and some puddles on the ground from a recent rain storm. JOE DAWSON is driving along the highway. He sees a person walking determinedly along the shoulder, hands in pockets, definitely not hitchhiking. JOE looks over a second time, then signals and pulls up into park ahead of the figure. He rolls down a window.

JOE:  
Need a ride?

The figure looks wary. He is anywhere between twelve and eighteen, and is wearing jeans a t-shirt and carrying a battered backpack.

FRANKIE:  
Okay.

FRANKIE opens the passenger side door and looks around the inside of the car before getting in.

JOE:  
I'm Joe.

FRANKIE:  
_[hesitates]_ Frankie.

JOE:  
Where were you heading?

FRANKIE:  
Downtown. I'm...the Greyhound bus station.

JOE:  
Okay.

 

 

JOE:  
Here's my card. Come down to the bar an hour before we open if you need anything.

 

INT. JOE'S BAR

It is a couple hours before opening. JOE is sitting at one of the tables. TOM RAMIREZ comes in.

TOM:  
Hey, Joe.

JOE:  
Hey, Tom. See anyone lurking outside?

TOM:  
No. Should I have?

TOM takes his jacket off and drapes it over the back of a chair before sitting down.

JOE:  
A high school heartbreak may show up in the next couple days.

TOM:  
A what?

JOE:  
I forgot. You never watched the normal ones, did you?

TOM gives JOE a steady look. JOE laughs briefly.

JOE:  
Well, this is the type one of your old assignments would have eaten for breakfast.

TOM:  
Young?

JOE:  
Very young. You see them a lot if you know how to look. You know how it is, prom night, drunken car accident, except the kid wakes up in the morgue and starts freaking out. If this isn't a major urban area, bam, they run to the closest city they can get to, start over. Most don't have a clue what they are.

TOM:  
Until a headhunter shows up?

JOE:  
Or a teacher. I saw this one walking on the side of the road.

TOM:  
Did he have blinking lights over his head?

JOE:  
Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs, kid. I've been doing this a long time. I can spot new ones a mile away. It's cold, it's wet, and he's walking around in a t-shirt and not shivering, like he owns the world and nothing as insignificant as cold can hurt him. Still riding that high.

TOM:  
So you promised him a free drink?

JOE:  
And implied some easy cash. The name he gave me, Frankie, was real, but it usually isn't. You get 'em close, you can start their Chronicle with their real name. It's pretty easy these days. High school heartbreaks are in all kinds of databases, usually a few news articles on them, too. Missing persons, car accidents, a memorial page in the yearbook.

TOM looks like he bit into a lemon and he swallows hard.

TOM:  
Okay. Right. So he'll be showing up in a few days and I should pump him for his story if I see him.

JOE:  
Yeah.

TOM:  
What's his name?

JOE:  
Frank Coughlin, but he introduced himself as Frankie. According to his high school newspaper, on his first day of his learner's permit, he took the car out by himself and drove into a tree. The car was totaled and he had a closed-coffin funeral. This was over the weekend.

TOM:  
_[repeating to himself, quietly]_ Still riding that high.

JOE:  
They think they're invincible for a while. Blame Superman. But it's better than the stories the old guys used to tell. These days, the kids hit the road as soon as they wake up because pop culture's drilled that into them, that there's no kind of haven for freaks in Small Town, USA. Used to be, they'd stick around. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

TOM:  
Joe--

JOE:  
Yeah?

TOM:  
I see this kid, I'll tell him where you are, okay?

JOE:  
You don't want to give him the run-down?

TOM:  
_[shrugs, casually]_ I'm bad at connecting with the younger generation.

JOE:  
Riiight.

TOM:  
_[a little too quickly, his eyes are very subtly darting around like he's looking for exits]_ It's not that I disagree with the new rules about this. I think they're a step in the right direction. But I don't--

JOE:  
Don't want to get your hands dirty with an Immortal who isn't yet a mass murderer?

TOM flinches, visibly, then draws himself up. His face shutters over and it is clear that this is a man who is, as his job description says, well-versed in the art of killing people and making it look like accidents.

TOM:  
C'mon, Joe.

JOE:  
They aren't all like Methos.

TOM:  
Yeah. I know.

JOE:  
And they aren't all like the ones you used to watch.

TOM:  
Yeah. I know.

JOE:  
So is this some kind of problem with innocents, Tom? You don't want to soil them with the facts of their existence?

TOM:  
I'm not a field agent anymore.

JOE:  
So? Neither am I.

TOM:  
There are...things I promised myself I would never do again, Joe.

JOE:  
Tom, I'm asking you to talk to a sixteen year old if he wanders in here, looking for me. I'm not asking you to shadow a man who's killed his last eight Watchers.

TOM:  
That would actually be preferable.

JOE:  
You're gonna have to give me a better excuse than a sudden attack of conscience, Tom.

TOM:  
_[leans in, putting his elbows on the table]_ Joe, I don't ask you to deal with Immortal amputees. Don't ask me to deal with Immortal children.

JOE:  
Funny, they don't sound the same to me.

TOM:  
You know that was my mom's specialty. The kids.

JOE:  
Yeah. Foremost expert we've got on the subject.

TOM:  
So there's baggage there. Personal stuff. Okay? I don't want to deal with it, you don't want to deal with it.

JOE:  
Hmm. Maybe you're right.

JOE stands up.

TOM:  
Where are you going?

JOE:  
I'm calling your mother.

[end scene]

 

\---

And his mother shows up towards the end of the episode and swoops in a Grand Entrace Of Awesomeness and we end up leading directly into Graduation Day, which is when Emanuel finds out he's pre-Immortal, and we also get flashbacks and stuff. Also the Plot Thickens - Joe and other interested parties have been trying to get her back full-time to the Watchers and for Joe, this is more than a little "I have to make things right" because Horton was the one who killed Tom's dad. And Amy calls Joe on that being one of the reasons he wants her to Get Together with Tom, which Joe vehemently denies. And there is also General Awesomeness with Laura Ayers-Brennan.

And meanwhile, Emanuel is having a very quiet panic attack. *pets him*  


* * *


	5. Episode list & various notes

  
As for what happens next and the rest of the series, here are my episode notes.

 

_Episodes:_

\---First season---

**Dawson, Squared:**  
Laura Ayers-Brennan comes to visit, scoping out an apartment for when she comes to Seacouver to conduct continuing-education classes (she's a full-time instructor at the Academy). Hijinks ensue. The Joe+Laura+Amy dynamic and relationship front and center, flashback to Joe and Laura meeting at the Academy (explored more later in series). Joe and Amy are a little frosty; their relationship swings back and forth a lot during this season before settling down in the second season. This early on, they still have a lot of unresolved issues.

**Astride A Pale Horse:**  
Tom's "origin" episode. Young field agent, stationed in Paris, pulled off of his current assignment when Methos, Kronos &amp; co headed to Bordeaux. He was supposed to follow at a distance and get the hell out of there, was told it was strictly volunteer, etc, but that if he could get any kind of real substantive info on this, he could have any job he wanted for the rest of his career. Tom shadowed Methos to meeting with MacLeod, then chose to stick with MacLeod to the fountain. He went into the submarine base after the Quickenings and it was all over and identified the bodies and reported back to the Watchers that "Adam Pierson", who had obviously been kidnapped by Kronos for some nefarious plot probably involving revenge on MacLeod _obviously_ of course wink wink, had made it out alive. The next day, Tom meets up with Methos post-cemetery and talks to him and it's clear they're setting up some kind of deal and understanding about Tom keeping Methos's secret, and Methos doing something for him in return. Episode ends in a kind of "this is the start of a beautiful friendship" homage.

**The Unsinkable Molly Brown:**  
Historical!Molly Brown as Immortal. She and Ruth March have what could be kindly referred to as "a history". Immortal-centric episode, with lots of flashbacks of Molly, Ruth, and Methos interaction over the centuries, to allow the Watcher-characters available to film on other episodes. Provides backstory on the relationship between Ruth March and Methos, and the tension between Immortals of a certain age to the fact that one of their own is notorious _for staying alive against all odds_.

**Veterans Day:**  
On Veterans Day, Joe flashback episode. Recovering from Vietnam, heading off to the Watcher Academy, his affair with Laura Ayers-Brennan, his time as a historian before becoming a field agent, briefly bumping into Adam Pierson in the halls of the Paris field office.

**Second Star To The Right:**  
episode about child Immortals. Joe encounters a new Immortal walking by the side of the road and gives him a ride and tells him to head down to the bar if he ever wants some free food/booze. The Watchers have taken a new policy of informing new young Immortals about who/what/etc because of the risk that the newbies would blow the whole Immortal secret before an older, wiser Immortal could become their teacher. Tom and Emanuel's mother, Victoria Gutierrez, makes a brief appearance, turns out that prepubescent Immortals were her research specialty. Tom is freaked out by the whole child!Immortal thing, which leads directly to Graduation Day.

**Graduation Day:**  
The one where Emanuel finds out (from Tom and his mom) that he is pre-Immortal. The flashbacks are to Emanuel's graduation from MIT and subsequent recruitment to the Watchers by Tom, and to his graduation from the Watcher academy, with Tom making sure that Emanuel doesn't come close to getting put in the field. Victoria Gutierrez is temporarily working with the Watchers to help smooth out their new and improved policies towards telling young Immortals what they are, and some Watchers (including Joe) really want her back full-time. For Joe, this is partially trying to make amends (because he also knows that Horton killed Raymie Ramirez). Amy finds out about this, bites her tongue about mentioning that Emanuel is pre-Immortal and that's probably why Victoria Gutierrez is bothering to help the people who covered up Raymie Ramirez's murder, and instead has a fight with Joe if the main reason Joe wants her to get together with Tom as some strange way of making things right. Joe is all "no, I'm not" and Amy is all "matchmaker, cure thyself".

**Mother Knows Best:**  
Victoria Gutierrez and Laura Ayers-Brennan: together, they fight crime. Okay, not yet. We get a lot of backstory, plus some interesting Watcher politics stuff, because Victoria and Laura are both from important Watcher families, and there's a lot of baggage and stuff there. Laura, who teaches at the Academy and is in Seacouver temporarily to conduct continuing-education classes, is trying to talk Victoria around the idea of coming back full time. She gets pretty blunt, pointing out that if Victoria hadn't burned all bridges, Tom might not have gone behind her back to get Emanuel into the Watchers so the kid would have some idea of what he was. (And we discover that Emanuel's pre-Immortality is the _worst kept secret on the planet._)

**Nine Years In Seacouver:**  
Joe finds out that Emanuel is pre-Immortal. But there are more important problems on the table: Duncan MacLeod is in town to visit Richie's grave, and he and Methos get into trouble after a night on the town when they encounter headhunters. Emanuel saves the day by falling on his sword. (Well, somebody else's sword). He ends up in the emergency room. He is informed by all and sundry to never do that again and let the adults handle things. (In the tag, Tom freaks out, quietly, and pulls him to the side to ask him if he's ever studied ages-become-Immortal vs. how-long-they-last, and then tells him to look into it. Emanuel points out that Methos must have died young. "Not for his time," says Tom. Also, does Emanuel have a death wish, etc. Tom is very worried and uses his powers of corruption to get Emanuel two weeks leave of sick time and later asks Methos to put the fear of headhunters into him.)

**In Sickness:**  
Amy Thomas gets called in when a spy at the morgue reports a corpse getting up and walking around. We get more background on how the Watchers have been forced by modernity and ubiquitous technology to change and change very quickly, and how it is all going from theory to practice faster than anyone's really comfortable with. The Watchers are working more and more with local "safe" Immortals to pair up new Immortals with teachers, and that's not always working out well. And even when it is, it's the kind of thing that keeps old school Watchers up at night. Amy and Joe aren't entirely on the same side about this; Amy can't forget Joe calling in Methos to kill someone to save her life. Their different points of view come into greater focus after their big blow-up in the flashback in the Christmas episode. They come to an uncomfortable agreement when they realize they both know about Emanuel and they're both not telling anyone. ("You're telling me you have problems with sanctioned interferences, but you're harboring one of them in research." "He's not Immortal yet." "You don't have any way of knowing that for sure.")

**The Past Through Tomorrow:**  
Two-part episode with Without A Paddle. Kim has had e-fucking-nough with this special relationship between Tom and Methos, and begins to wonder if Tom is playing both sides for his own ends. Kim finds out that Emanuel is pre-Immortal and hits the roof. He removes Emanuel from his research position and nearly has him thrown out of the Watchers, and puts Tom up on conspiracy charges. Joe intervenes and convinces him to keep Emanuel's potential-Immortality a secret. ("I couldn't save Richie. I owe the universe one.") Kim dismisses the conspiracy charges, but it hits a red flag with the Tribunal, who are already concerned about Tom's loyalties. (Part of the Unending Temptation Of Kim Greenwood. Poor Kim.)

**Without A Paddle:**  
Two-part episode with Past Through Tomorrow. Tom is investigated for corruption. We find out that Methos is actually paying him. The Methos Project-as-entity steps in and slams a classified stamp on his activities so fast, you'd forget that they were already classified. Episode ends with Tom giving Kim a very thorough debriefing on everything he's done for Methos, with the understanding that it will sit in a vault for a few years after his death before anyone else reads it. (More of the Unending Temptation Of Kim Greenwood. Poor, poor Kim.)

**Miranda:**  
Ruth March joins the "ha ha fooled you, this show is actually about family" ranks when her pre-Immortal adopted daughter, Miranda, is diagnosed with terminal, inoperable cancer. Miranda had decided years ago that she wanted a mortal life only and did not want to become an Immortal. Ruth's POV, saying goodbye to someone you shouldn't have to say goodbye to.

**Happy Christmas (War Is Over):**  
Amy POV episode. Watching Ruth handling the final arrangements for Miranda's funeral and the funeral itself, with flashbacks to 1) her father dying and finding out that Joe was her biological father, and 2) how she handled the fallout from Indiscretions. Her eventual reunion with Joe and their v. v. uncomfortable discussion about how Joe could actually call in an Immortal to kill another one. "You're not running an Immortal hit squad, Joe." Also, she and Tom celebrate Christmas together as "just friends" and actually-just-friends, aka, the beginning of the end of the show trying to force them together as a romantic pairing.

**Redacted:**  
Emanuel is doing cross-checking and discovers that certain Chronicles are not as they should be. He dorkily investigates on his own and his investigation ends up fingering a Tribunal member as the culprit. He works backwards to figure out just where they've been falsified and discovers that there was much more going on with Horton than the accepted story of "he decided one day to kill Immortals". Also, Horton flashbacks and exposition.

**Turn The Page:**  
Emanuel discovers that Horton killed Tom's father and set it up to look like an Immortal did it, as part of his master plan to kill Immortals and at the same time, to remove oversight from his actions. Emanuel actually exercises some discretion in telling Tom about it, and is shocked to discover that Tom already knows, and joined the Watchers anyway. More various Horton-esque flashbacks, exposition on the Hunters for those just joining us.

**Before Tonight Ends:**  
Laura Ayers-Brennan and Victoria Gutierrez (Ramirez, Donaldson) flashback episode, London, 1970, when both are young Watchers from families of Watchers, trying to make names for themselves separate from their parents's careers. A bomb threat is called in to a business the Watchers use as a front, and they have until dawn to track down the disgruntled Watcher responsible. (Together they fight crime!)

**Convent Blues:**  
Flashback ep to when Methos and Ruth March met, back when he was a priest and she was a nun. They are witty at each other. Over-arching plot has to do with asylum and conspiracies, but, really, it's all about the interplay between them.

**A Rose For Methos:**  
the one where "Adam Pierson Sr" dies, is given a closed-casket, military funeral. "Adam Pierson Jr" is Methos's current identity. Season 1 finale. (Start of episode: Kim napping on Methos's couch at the old loft in Paris. Phone rings, Kim answers it. Kim explains to the caller that, he's very sorry, but Papa Pierson died that morning.)

\---Second season---

**Over There:**  
season 2 premiere. More war flashbacks for Joe, sparked by the arrival of a recent medically-discharged-war-veteran-turned-Watcher to Seacouver. Joe is protective and projecting. New!vet has legal background and is brought in to be secondary watcher on Ruth March and be the one to keep up with lawyering stuff that isn't Amy's specialty. New!Vet (Sarah Hiakin) starts dating Tom, because we have entirely given up on forcing Tom and Amy together by then. Tom and new!vet bond over sport-shooting. (The song Walter Reed by Michael Penn is used to great effect in montaging Joe and new!vet's injuries/recoveries. That's the pre-opening-credits sequence, then roll title card. Who cares that new viewers will be going "wait, what? is this a war show?")

**The Suit:**  
Mark Gradin POV-episode. He's becoming a series regular, so we get the requisite backstory, flashbacks, etc. Also, exposition city on Methos's Big Conspiracy for those just joining us. (There are jokes that Mark is Kim's illegitimate lovechild; the actors have a similarity of deadpan and stone-faced-ness.)

**The Gay Divorcee:**  
Ruth March's Immortal former-husband shows up, needing help against a ruthless headhunter who won't play by the rules. Ruth, ex-husband, and Methos work together to save the day, and ex-husband ends up killing the headhunter.

**So Happy Together:**  
Throw-away episode that can go just about anywhere in the season about an Immortal who married her Watcher. It's heavily about the two of them, with Our Heroes mostly in the background to free them up to film other episodes.

**Jefferson Still Lives:**  
Ian Bancroft comes to Joe to let him know he's going to retire. But they have one last adventure: discovering that a historical re-enactor is actually an Immortal, reliving his glory days.

**Concordance:**  
The mostly-finished concordance spits out a suspected Methos identity. Kim goes to get Methos to confirm it, and discovers something else Methos never wanted anyone to know: he whitewashed Darius's Chronicle, too. ("You people need heroes. Darius was as close as it was going to get.") AKA, Lanna thinks that whole light-quickening thing is bullshit and a cop-out, and so replaces it with slow-understanding-of-self-evil-and-changing-self-rather-than-having-self-be-changed-by-deus-ex-machina.

**Ramirez:**  
Flashback ep. It is 16th century Spain. Before going off to find Connor MacLeod, Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez is meeting up with an old friend (Methos) and they have some kind of historically accurate plot that is thrilling and fun and also includes some sly references to other bits of Highlander canon. Ramirez's adopted son, Carlos, has become a Watcher with his father's knowledge and approval. In the interest of there-are-only-so-many-actors-in-Vancouver, Carlos is played by the same actor who plays Raymie Ramirez in other flashbacks.

**Radio Silence:**  
Immortal-of-the-Week shows up, enrolls in one of Adam Pierson's classes at university. And they both disappear. Kim is rolling with it, because they have a Watcher on Methos at all times for a fecking reason...until the Watcher tailing them shows up in the city morgue. We see the Watchers in the field in full-blown find-Methos mode, but with the additional oversight that comes from Special Projects (aka Tom and His People) when they're potentially dealing with an Immortal who is going around killing Watchers.

**1900:**  
Flashback ep. The last time Methos was a Watcher, he helped arrange the marriage of star-crossed lovers Troy Ayers and Nancy Brennan. Romcom historical episode. In the background, Methos starts to realize just how precarious the secret of Immortals is being kept in this modern age, and starts to plot about how to handle the inevitable collapse of secrecy.

**Count Down:**  
Methos and Mark Gradin in London, plotting Methos's great plan and hammering out details. Lots of flashbacks, we get the whole story of how Methos has been piecing this together over the decades.

**Roll With The Punches:**  
Flashback ep. Because Laura Ayers-Brennan and Victoria Gutierrez are awesome together... Laura visits Victoria after Victoria resigns from the Watchers. Features baby!Emanuel and teenage!Tom. This is either during Horton or after he's killed, probably after, for peace of mind's sake. Victoria and Laura obliquely talk about child immortals and how freaked out Victoria is by this whole cuckoo thing ("I love him more than words, but at night sometimes, I can't help but wonder: is he my son, or did he _kill_ my son?") and also about Tom getting a step-dad and baby brother really close together. (This episode is kind of all about adoption and "real" parents, and how just because you're adopted in highlander-verse doesn't mean you're pre-Immie, see: Lou Donaldson, and also "biological" vs "legal" fatherhood with Joe vs. Laura's husband-to-be-named-later, and Tom getting adopted by Lou but not changing his name.) Victoria off-handedly mentions that Adam Pierson came by a week ago to bring over a teddy bear for the baby.

**Sins Of The Father:**  
Raymie Ramirez's work is under attack for its veracity. Tom goes to Geneva to figure out what's going on. He demands that the Tribunal declassify Horton's activities in killing Watchers. In return, Tom accepts a censure on his father's legacy because of questionable activities while undercover and for failing to keep as close an eye on his underlings as he may have (without going so far as to actually blame him for Horton killing him, because that's just crazy talk, and, also, Tom looked like he was about to introduce that Tribune to Mr. Knife). As Tom leaves, he visits the memorial wall in Watcher HQ and we see just how many people named Ramirez or Gutierrez have died on the job. He brushes his fingers over his father's name. Fade out.

**That Long Green Line:**  
Joe and new!vet and Methos get stuck in the bar during a power outage during a heavy storm. They pass the time by telling war stories. Turns out, Methos served on the British side during WWI and WWII. Joe finds this illuminating.

**En Garde:**  
Kim's old practice partner from NCAA fencing comes out of the woodwork to talk swords. Methos is around, talking to Kim about Methos Chronicle stuff. Old partner saw Kim's recent journal article on ancient swords and wants to know how Kim keeps getting his hands on these fantastic specimens. There is a history between them. Enough history that Methos is the one who gets a little twitchy jealous, and covers it up by insinuating that he and Kim are life partners of the homosexual sort. Methos ends up giving old practice partner Connor MacLeod's Current Identity's antique-dealer-who-specializes-in-swords business card to get him to go away. This is the "is he, or is the show just making a terrible gay joke" episode.

**Damocles:**  
Tom, Methos, Joe, Mark Gradin, etc, regarding Methos's unholy plan to out Immortals. The clock is ticking and Joe isn't completely on board with it.

**O Come, O Come, Emanuel:**  
Christmas in Seacouver. Joe, Amy, and Laura Ayers-Brennan attempt to have a nice civil family dinner with Victoria &amp; Lou Donaldson, Tom, and Emanuel. Hijinks ensue when Methos invites himself over.

**These Are The Days:**  
New Year's episode. Auld Lang Syne, etc, except that there's an Immortal gunning for both Ruth March and Methos. An Immortal who knows, *cue dramatic music*, deep dark secrets about both of them! Oh noes! And meanwhile, Amy is awesome and Kim is on the edge of figuring out the whole deal about what Methos is doing with British Intelligence.

**The Most Dangerous Game:**  
Kim finds out about Methos's dastardly plan to trade his own safety for the good of Immortals as a whole, and confronts him about "what the flying fuck are you out of your mind". Methos does not quite explain the extent of his plan to integrate Immortals into society, or how long it's been going on for, but Kim leaves mostly-satisfied that Methos hasn't hit his head on something.

**PDB:**  
Season two finale, the American president gets told about Immortals and the ticking clock to D-Day. Features Methos, Mark Gradin, and...Tom Ramirez, representing the Watchers (without the Watchers actually knowing he's representing the Watchers), who is so far into this, he's not even pretending anymore to be objective ("I run special projects. This just happens to be a _really_ special project.") (regarding oversight, "Officially, this is an off-shoot of the Methos project, and as far as the Watchers are concerned, I have been deputized as a Methos watcher. Kim Greenwood gets my reports. If I get hit by a bus, he'll hand them to the Tribunal. But it will go no further.")

 

\---Third season---

**The End Is Nigh:**  
season premiere. We see Methos's timeline really click into place and start counting down. Methos is running around being the grand puppetmaster, but there's a problem and it comes in the form of Duncan MacLeod, who demands to be let in and be allowed to help. Methos has problems sharing, but he understands why it's a good idea to let Duncan shoulder some of it. At the end of the ep, Duncan heads off to Paris and starts capital-hopping, doing stuff for Methos's Grand Plan. (Off in the sidelines, Kim and Joe are essentially eating popcorn and enjoying the show.)

**The Boys Of Summer:**  
Emanuel, having been promoted to a more senior position in research, is In Charge when a bunch of research-wannabes from the Watcher Academy descend on Seacouver for a month of real world experience. Hijinks do not exactly ensue; we begin to realize that the Watchers have a few more Immortals in their ranks than you might think, and that someone is using them to headhunt.

**London, Paris, Rome, Seacouver:**  
Quite literally, the first act is in London, the second in Paris, the third in Rome, and the fourth in Seacouver. Everyone is in Panic Mode because it seems like the Gathering has started and no one told the Watchers. No one at the Methos Project has a holy clue where Methos is. Panic, etc, while they try to track him down through all the sword fights that are being phoned in. Fourth act, someone calls Kim in to the remnants of a sword fight that was over too quickly to identify the fighters. Kim thinks that, from the damage pattern, there was more than one Immortal in the vicinity to the take the Quickening. In the tag, Kim finds out that Emanuel became an Immortal in the previous few hours. The challenger had killed him and, while Emanuel was reviving, Methos stepped in and challenged the headhunter. Kim agrees to teach Emanuel how to fence as a cover for Methos teaching him how to sword fight.

**Day One:**  
The day after LPRS, Emanuel keeps flashing back to being killed. He is "taking a sick day", and Tom is jumping at shadows that Emanuel's secret somehow got out. Meanwhile, the representatives of the Tribunal are in town, trying to figure out if the Gathering is happening or if there's a small group of headhunters on the loose, shaking things up. Tom nearly has a panic attack; Amy steps in and provides backup.

**Anywhere, Anywhen, Anyhow:**  
Yep, it's a small group of headhunters. They show up and we get a nice Methos and MacLeod reunion. And we're throwing out movie canon because this is Highlanderverse and canon is a sketchy concept, so it's Methos and both MacLeods. There is sword fighting. It is very exciting. And in the background, Tom and Emanuel are off at a family reunion, and Amy and Joe have had a heart-to-heart about just how much they are prepared to ignore to keep Emanuel's secret. Amy, Joe, and Kim start keeping a secret chronicle on Emanuel. They are very sure Tom will not be interested in contributing, to say the least.

**Reunion:**  
Meanwhile, at the Ramirez-Donaldson family reunion, Emanuel comes out to his parents as Immortal, and we get flashbacks and backstory. ("Mom, Dad, I, uh, got stabbed last month.") Emanuel deals with the whole being killed thing. Tom and Stepdad Lou have a mysterious conversation about keeping Emanuel the hell away from Lou's adopted father.

**Dead Letter Drop:**  
Methos introduces Emanuel to Mark Gradin, and Emanuel is initiated into Methos's Master Plan.

**Winter Wonderland:**  
Joe and Kim get snowed in at the Seacouver Airport. But just when it seems like they might get some peace and quiet, it turns out that they're snowed in with two Immortals who have spent all their lives avoiding each other because they've sworn that at their next meeting, one would die, and they don't want to kill each other. Kim plays marriage counselor. No, really. It's six kinds of absurd and hilarious. Lighter episode, also shows that, seriously, Kim and Joe not only used to be friends, but they still get on really well when they don't have Methos between them.

**Ground Control To Major Tom:**  
Tom is in Geneva, dealing with Super Secret Watcher Business, such as letting the Tribunal know what Methos is up to. He's essentially briefing them on what he's been doing in their name and daring them to execute him. There's a lot more blathering about the direction the Watchers have been moving in, and this outright collaboration with Methos...isn't actually seen as being incompatible with that goal. There gets to the point where the Watchers have become not-really-the-Watchers, but some of the Tribunes see that as a hell of a lot better than the Watchers becoming Hunters, which was how it was looking before Methos started becoming the puppetmaster. Essentially, as Neil Gaiman said about the Sandman, you have to change or die, and the Watchers are willing to change a hell of a lot if it means they don't die.

**Alexander Gradin, This Is Your Life:**  
Emanuel and Alexander Gradin, with Emanuel using his leet Watcher skills to good use in totally breaking every oath in the book, because Mark asked him to. Alexander Gradin is showing some signs of being aware of his surroundings and not being senile and Emanuel and Mark try to catch him up on his life, what's been going on, etc. Alexander Gradin is not actually getting better and his relapse is worse than his previous state. (This episode is essentially a redo of 1.03, aka, "no really, this time the studio actually is letting us do an episode that deals with euthanasia.")

**Look Homeward, Angel:**  
Because Kim doesn't have a monopoly on moral crises. Amy heads home in the quiet before the storm to let her mom know what's going on. ("I'm not the Watcher I thought I was.")

**News At Eleven:**  
Season finale. It's almost Coming Out Day. Details are hammered out, and it's the moment of truth for Methos's core conspiracy group of Watchers, if they follow his lead, or keep their loyalty with the fold.

 

\---Fourth season---

**We Interrupt This Broadcast:**  
Season premiere, beginning with news footage coverage of, well, interrupted broadcasts. The big reveal of Immortals. Methos is front-and-center. Emanuel goes underground. MacLeod facepalms. The Watchers collectively freak out, except for Methos's core conspiracy group, who go into damage control mode. Kim has one last, huge Moral Freakout Of Doom, but goes along with it anyway.

**It Counts In Horseshoes:**  
The Watchers schism. Kim Greenwood resigns his position of the head of the Methos Project. Joe Dawson takes over. Kim informs everyone that he is going to retire to a tropical island and never speak to anyone ever again. It takes him about a day to sign on as a liaison to the American government as expert advisor on Immortal matters. Amy Thomas becomes head of field operations at the Seacouver branch.

**Damage Control:**  
Third-part of the season premiere. All the wheels spin faster and faster to deal with this major news. Emanuel gets discharged from the Watchers in absentia after he sends an e-mail requesting it; Tom confidentially informs the Tribunal that Emanuel has found out that he's pre-Immortal, and that obviously, the family is very very concerned, etc. The Tribunal has much bigger things to worry about than the fact that the researcher in charge of the concordance is (pre-)Immortal. Tom becomes head of special projects worldwide, a special Tribune position. Joe starts dealing with the Methos Chronicle people. Amy Thomas considers putting a Watcher on Emanuel.

**Go West Young Man:**  
Lou Donaldson shows up for Emanuel's birthday and finds out his son is no longer a Watcher. Lou's adopted father shows up out of the blue (he hadn't had contact with Lou since he was in his twenties and Grandpa vanished) to take grandson out for a spin and teach him the birds and bees, such as they are. Methos shows up near the end of quality time and challenges Grandpa. Emanuel is like, "what? seriously? Did someone replace you with a pod person?" They fight. Methos wins, spares Grandpa's life, and tells him that if ever sees him near Emanuel again, there will be hell to pay. Tag: Emanuel demanding that Tom give him the Chronicle on Grandpa. Tom refusing. ("You're not allowed to use the Chronicles to hunt." "Who said anything about hunting?" "I did." "That bad, huh?" "Trust me. Walk away.") Emanuel smiles and nods, then goes to track down the truth, because he's not a baby and doesn't need to have his innocent sensibilities protected, no matter what Tom thinks.

**Santa Fe:**  
Emanuel is challenged and takes a Quickening. In Santa Fe. Then it gets written up in his Chronicle and he finds out that the Watchers are paying attention to him. And they're not willing to look the other way, because, well, he's a Methos protege, isn't he? So this is important to history. You understand, don't you, Manny? Of course you do, that's a nice baby Immortal. Now run along and be a good boy. (Emanuel is not amused. Methos tells him to get used to it.) Emanuel is somewhat placated when Tom, as special tribune, puts the chronicle under the same level of super-classified as the Methos Chronicle. ("It's about privacy.")

**Your Fifteen Minutes Are Up:**  
Methos's "security through notoriety" is tested when some Immortals decide to ambush him, kidnap him, force him to make a retraction, and kill him. Well, they try to. Long talky thing about coming out, not very thinly veiled, about choices and coming up and being public and such. The cavalry arrives in the form of...Emanuel. Emanuel tells the Other Immortals about how all those centuries of secrecy meant that no one cared that his Grandfather Donaldson was a murderous slimeball, killing pre- and new-Immortals. Leaving Immortals to police their own doesn't work, etc etc, come into the fold and stop being vigilantes. The pen isn't entirely mightier than the sword, and they end up shooting their way out of there anyway.

**Caltech:**  
Emanuel decides lying low means lying low, and also that it's about time he realized that he's supposed to be moving on with his life now that he's 1) Immortal, 2) not a Watcher, and 3) living in a world where everyone knows what Immortals and Watchers are. So he decides that going for his Ph.D would be a good idea. He heads to Caltech to check out the lay of the land, and has Talks with Methos and Tom about potentially being Out On Campus or In The Immortality Closet.

**Immortality-Gate parts 1 and 2:**  
Two part episode (with a better title, because I'm drawing a blank). Because Lanna is nothing if not a political junkie...Congressional hearings! Of awesomeness and political nerditude! Kim and Joe and Amy testify (Tom is in Europe, dealing with Tribunal stuff). Joe is all "this would be a lot scarier if I hadn't already survived a death sentence". Kim is all "I am still an asexual gay man, but watch me flirt with a Secret Service agent." Amy is all "I'm a British citizen. I dare you to deport me." (This being television, there are no actual enduring consequences of this, but it is going on in the background through the rest of the season. "Flying to Washington" becomes the new "sleeping in the barracks" when it comes to a regular not being in an episode.)

**Proving A Negative:**  
In which, essentially, Manny Becomes A Real Boy. Our Heroes are all dealing with the rise of charlatans and other phenomena related to the widespread understanding now that there are people who are going to live forever and don't know it yet. Emanuel falls in love with someone who he desperately wants to believe is pre-Immortal, because it's essentially Alexa Redux. (Methos's heart kind of breaks for him, well, as much as Methos's heart every actually breaks when it comes to baby Immortals.) It's Emanuel's first major loss of his life and also the first major loss of his _Immortal_ life, and he's suddenly realizing that, if he plays his cards right, he's going to see everyone he loves die. There is a Very Very Emotional Episode. It is the show saying "dear awards shows, please love us! We're not just sword fights and explosions! Look, we can do Very Special Episodes about death!"

**Valentine's Day:**  
The Watchers are slowly getting their feet back under them. Amy is practically running the entire US operation. Tom is getting his hands dirty as a special Tribune. They get together in New York and have dinner. On Valentine's Day. This is not romantic; it's part of a super secret Watcher operation to figure out if a New York Billionaire is actually secretly an Immortal. (Spoiler alert: he is. And there is a Quickening. On Valentine's Day. In New York. And then it turns into fireworks, fade to credits.)

**For Whom The (School) Bell Tolls:**  
Laura Ayers-Brennan and Victoria Gutierrez: together, they fight crime, redux! Or, well, not exactly. Kiddie episode; there's a child Immortal who wants to attend normal school and have a chance at a normal life after she had her first death a month previously. This causes all kinds of problems. This is not a Very Special Episode about child-on-child harassment, except for the parts where it's a Very Special Episode about being Different.

**Sing A Song Of Sixpence:**  
(two parter with Four And Twenty Blackbirds) In which Emanuel goes headhunting, Methos helps him, Amy has a crisis of conscience if she should tip off Tom that his baby brother's gone dark side, and Joe is really getting into the swing of things running the Methos project.

**Four And Twenty Blackbirds:**  
(two parter with Six A Song Of Sixpence) In which Emanuel confronts Grandpa about being a murdering bastard, there's some back and forth with Methos about how Emanuel really can't trust mortal justice system, and Immortals don't _have_ a justice system, and it's all...you know, who judges who and that stuff that's been tread in Highlander. Emanuel manages to beat Grandpa in a swordfight (what? Methos is a good teacher, and Grandpa doesn't expect him to actually be able to go through with it). He hesitates for a little too long. Grandpa starts to scurry away and Methos lets him get far enough and then steps in and challenges him, kills him. Emanuel asks him why, Methos responds that he promised Tom he'd protect Emanuel in exchange for Tom helping him, and before Emanuel can go have an adrenaline crash from it all, Methos tells him that that's the first and last time Methos will ever kill for him, so Emanuel needs to either figure out how to kill someone who hasn't forced him to fight him, or get himself the hell to holy ground. Episode closes on Emanuel going home to tell Lou that, uh, some random Immortal killed his dad. Because this episode is all about Consequences.

**High School Heartbreak:**  
POV of the kid from Second Star. In the aftermath of the big reveal, he goes home and starting dealing with things. He debates going back to his high school and eventually decides to go for a GED and try his hand at a local community college. Having to always be out before he looks so young, he has to always out himself or deal with issues from people thinking he's as young as he looks. (No regulars appear, the episode gives them time to film season finale.)

**A New Normal:**  
Amy POV. A day in the life of running Seacouver HQ. Early morning meeting with representatives of police, state, local, fed, etc. Talking about dealing with Immortals who want to change identities, or have in the past, etc. Other issues of the Watchers opening up basic Watcher records to solve old unsolved disappearances. Generally making nice with law enforcement. Emanuel comes storming in before lunch, ranting about how his Watcher is like patting him on the head in his Chronicle, and Emanuel blows off steam (I'm not your mascot or your cute little success story! I'm an Immortal and I'm a murderer and I can live with myself and I can sleep just fine at night! It's not about Methos, it's about me. It's my life.) (Emanuel having moral crisis about taking challenges at all, and meanwhile everyone is working out things like immunity from prosecution for Immortals who promise not to take any more challenges, etc. Emanuel doesn't want to kill, but he recognizes the necessity of playing the game now, since everything is in flux and when Immortals panic, heads roll.) Emanuel blows off steam, and after he calms down, they agree to meet and have dinner to together so they can talk civilly and rationality about this.

 

**The Devil And Doctor Pierson, Parts 1, 2, and 3:**  
Season (and potentially series, if TPTB didn't renew it) finale. Due to some mystical MacGuffin meant to show Methos the True Meaning Of Friendship or whatever, Methos goes back to the 1980s and something is changed. As the episode synopsis says "Adam meets Methos and all hell breaks loose." Adam Pierson meets The Messenger and it sends the entire timeline sprawling. The Messenger turns out to be an obsessed headhunter working for Kronos and he is looking for any way of getting to Methos. He finds it in Adam Pierson, and Adam has to kill him. It is witnessed by Jack Shapiro.

Things happen, and Adam gets out of the Watchers right before the Hunters move in. Dr. Pierson takes up residence in Paris as a local scholar and one day Kim Greenwood knocks on his door, desperate. The Hunters are on his heels; Kim has found Something and he's running from both the legitimate Watchers and the Hunters. Methos takes him in, helps in. Jump a few years later, Dr. Pierson has come into some family wealth and Kim is living as Methos's coughkeptboycough bodyguard and armorer. They are fighting the Hunters, who have taken over most of the Watchers from within. Their spy within in the Hunters is Horton's trusted confidant and brother-in-law, one Mr. Joseph Dawson. Joe is desperate to get away from Horton, but he's sticking in because Methos needs someone on the inside if he's going to bring the Hunters down and keep the secret of Immortality safe. In this timeline, Methos was still working on a way to tell the world, but this is so totally not how he wants the world to find out.

To make matters worse, the Hunters have managed to grab Raymie Ramirez's kid, a sullen teen named Tom, and are holding him hostage until his mother tells them where she's hidden her newborn son, who they know is pre-Immortal. Horton has Plans and they include having a pre-Immortal to experiment on. There is a daring rescue, during which Joe is outed as the spy, and he and Kim only barely escape with Tom. They make it back to Methos's safehouse, very bruised, very dirty, to find Duncan MacLeod there, holding a baby and making silly faces at him to get him to stop crying.

It turns out Victoria and Methos had sent Emanuel to Duncan and Tessa, because Duncan MacLeod Of The Clan MacLeod is the last place anyone would look for a Watcher's child, but Duncan's been running from the Hunters, who got tipped off somehow (maybe when they put it together that Joe was the traitor and Duncan was Joe's long-time assignment). Tessa's been killed and Duncan comes back to the safehouse. Also having made a desperate dash to the safehouse is Amy Brennan, who has been on the run with her mother since Hunters killed her father, and there is a touching scene where Laura and Joe are reunited. Also, Amy and Tom meet cute when Tom shows her one of his knives and she throws it through the bulls-eye in a target. Awww.

They decide to try one last daring escape, and that involves getting to London. There is an actiony chase scene, during which Horton is killed and Joe is shot in the shoulder. Methos performs careful surgery during the rickety ride across the channel. They make it to London and they stagger into a meeting with Mark Gradin's father, Karl. They make the decision that since the Hunters are about to blow the secret sky-high, to beat them to the punch. The big secret comes out the next day. And when the dust settles, everyone looks around, dusts themselves off, and Methos is left holding Emanuel and the camera spins around and around on them and we find ourselves back in the here and now, where it should be, and Methos slings his arm around Emanuel's shoulder, and they walk together into Joe's Bar, where everyone is sitting around a table, waiting for them. The end.

(There is a part of me that wants to write this as an epic AU. Ha. As if I'd ever finish it.)

 

\---Fifth season---

**THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH:**  
Season premiere. Title refers to graffiti sprayed in the locker room of Watcher HQ. Somewhat of a reboot of the series's focus. Emanuel has been written out of the first part of the season after the actor breaks a leg while skiing and there is no way to explain what an Immortal is doing with a cast. Explained away as the character going off to "find himself". We hear him over the phone but that's pretty much it. More focus on Seacouver HQ, with Amy as person-in-charge, and a couple new characters who are the first Watcher Academy class to graduate since the big reveal. You get the feeling that as much as the Watchers have been in flux ever since Galati, they have really big in flux in the last year. The Watchers are holding onto their identity by force of will alone, but things have really been changing. There is various strife between old school Watchers and the new generation, which is kind of hilarious because the Watchers who are now old and fogey were the Watchers who were the ones to put everything back together after Horton and were the ones who kind of sympathized with Joe's interference, even through it was scandalous and shocking and they of course would never do it themselves. And of course these days, that kind of interference being such a scandal is kind of a quaint idea.

**The Light At The End Of The Tunnel:**  
Episode two of the season. Methos and Joe: together, they ~~are celebrating their anniversary~~ are rehashing the Methos Chronicle. Because we need some exposition at the start of the season. Joe is focusing more on his music, getting back into that groove after the events of last season. Methos is watching all the fall-out and slowly pulling himself away from it.

**Caltech, Redux:**  
mid-way through the season, Emanuel's first episode back as a regular (but more a guest star than a regular because the actor is still in physical therapy post-leg-cast). He starts at Caltech in the spring semester. He is taking a different focus in his education; the last year has been a crash course for him and he wants to help Immortals integrate into the mainstream. (Emanuel eventually becomes an FBI agent (post-series), doing the tech side of things.)

 

\--

* * *

Character's bios and various notes to self. These are mostly short, nothing drawn out.

\--

 

_Characters:_

Laura Ayers-Brennan (Thomas): mother of Amy Thomas (with Joe Dawson), widow of []Thomas. Daughter of Norman Brennan. Member of Brennan watching family (extrapolated canon from the Watcher files stuff), and Ayers watching family (mother's side, made it up, hey, she's using both of them pre-marriage while a Watcher, so...). Was at Watcher Academy at the same time as Joe Dawson, had brief affair with him while married. Took two year leave of absence/sabbatical when got pregnant due to "extenuating circumstances" (no, really), and then resigned after that. She is American, born in Bethesda, Maryland, but gave birth to Amy Thomas in London. Took back maiden name legally after her husband died. She rejoined the Watchers as a consultant after her husband died, though had been a guest lecturer on-and-off before then. Currently as-of-season-one is an instructor at the Watcher's academy. During season one, she moves to Seacouver to conduct some continuing education classes at the Seacouver branch. She has had a long friendship with Victoria Gutierrez and is one of the (too many) people who know that Emanuel is pre-Immortal.

Emanuel Donaldson: son of Lou and Victoria Donaldson, half-brother of Tom Ramirez. is pre-Immortal. Understands that the rules apply to him, but doesn't entirely care. Is 14 years younger than Tom. Once he finds out that he's pre-Immortal, Emanuel thinks over the question, and decides to let fate take care of it. If he become Immortal, okay, and if he doesn't, he's also okay with that. Eventually becomes Immortal. Sticks around with the Watchers until D-Day, then skips town. The Watchers have a Chronicle on him, started by Joe. Tom used his Tribune powers to classify it to give Emanuel privacy.

Lou Donaldson: father of Emanuel Donaldson, second husband of Victoria (Gutierrez) (Ramirez). Step-father of Tom Ramirez. Has a good relationship with step-son, but it's not all that fatherly. Lou is the adopted son of an Immortal+mortal marriage. He knows about Immortals and Watchers, but doesn't want to have much to do with that life. Has concerns about Victoria going back to work full-time for the Watchers because her specialty is child Immortals and Lou is concerned because he knows his adopted father is a predator who preys on new Immortals and worries that this would bring bad attention on Victoria and then also Emanuel. Once Emanuel becomes Immortal, Lou asks Tom to start sending him information on adopted dad's whereabouts, in case grandpa gets the idea of visiting Emanuel.

Kim Greenwood: American watcher, was "the sword guy" until Methos tagged him to run the Methos Project in exchange of Methos allowing the Methos Project to spy on him. In a situation never overtly acknowledged on screen, Kim and Adam used to date way back when, and Kim is the Asexual Gay Man whose sexuality is never addressed, until the inevitable movie, in which he is seen (chastely) with his boyfriend. Kim starts out all squeaky clean and then gets dirtied as the series goes on and he has to make choices that don't let him sleep at night. In the end, he goes along with Methos's plan, because the alternative is worse, and then quits the Watchers with severe bitterness. In other words, he's the guy who the series lives to destroy and revels in doing it.

Victoria Gutierrez (Ramirez) (Donaldson): wife of Lou Donaldson, mother of Emanuel and Tom, former wife of Raymie Ramirez. Had taken a leave of absence from Watchers after first husband died, extended leave after married Lou, left Watchers for good after witnessing pre-Immortal!baby!Emanuel take the place of her stillborn son. Has been protecting Emanuel ever since, didn't want Emanuel to join the Watchers because what if they caught him. Knows Tom did recruit him, but hasn't let her sons know that she knows. Plausible deniability if anyone comes knocking and demands to know if Tom knew that Emanuel was pre-Immortal and recruited him anyway. Eventually rejoins the Watchers part-time as a consultant about child Immortals.

Alexander Gradin: approx age 100. g-grandfather of Mark Gradin. Alexander is Immortal (became so around age 70), but has memory problems. He doesn't remember he's Immortal. The family moves him around nursing homes, hoping no one catches on.

Mark Gradin: Methos's liaison with the whole "we know about Immortals and they help us out and we give them documentation etc". His g-grandfather is Immortal.

Sarah Hiakin: new!vet. Joins cast in season 2 onward.

Anna Ko: head of research at Seacouver Branch. Gets "transferred to another branch" after season 2 when the actor playing her gets a starring role on another show.

Ruth March: current name of approx-600 year old Immortal. Met Methos in a convent way back when. Age may be adjusted upward as necessary. Methos pretends to be her teacher for purposes of the chronicles because it amuses him.

Raymond "Raymie" Ramirez: father of Tom Ramirez, husband of Victoria (Ramirez) Donaldson. Died in line of duty (killed by Horton). Had had questionable activities while undercover when he reported an Immortal to the police for murdering a mortal. Might have faced a Tribunal for it, but Horton killed him first.

Thomas Edward "Tom" Ramirez: son of Victoria Gutierrez (Donaldson) and Raymie Ramirez, half-brother of Emanuel. Good with languages, better with guns. Was a field agent for a few years, then was tapped for more and more dangerous assignments (like following Kronos at a distance before being pulled off for his own safety). His actions have all been classified since being taken out of the field. He is the head of Special Projects for US NorthWest, and on top of that, is the Watcher's executioner. He's known Emanuel is pre-Immortal since the beginning, and brought Emanuel into the Watchers so he'd have a thorough grounding in what being Immortal meant, and be able to make a better decision down the line about it. Pre-series, Tom came to an arrangement with Methos in that Methos would protect Emanuel from Immortal threats and in return, Tom would give Methos access to the Watchers special projects. Tom is a key element in Methos's master plan. Over the series, Tom rises in the ranks of Watcher's secret projects, eventually becoming a Tribune, but his actions are not uncontroversial.

Amy Thomas: aka, Brennan-Thomas, biological daughter of Joe Dawson and Laura Ayers-Brennan (Thomas). Legal daughter of Laura Ayers-Brennan (Thomas) and [ ] Thomas. Born ca. 1970 in London.

\--

_Various notes_

 

Part of Methos's deal with British Intelligence involves staying out of the Game and avoiding challenges "unless necessary for self-defense" or it not going it would trigger really, really bad stuff.

Tom and Methos have a special arrangement in which Methos protects Emanuel and in exchange, Tom lets Methos have access to the Watchers's special projects.

Kim and Joe are fractioning, but they come to a closer understanding as Kim keeps being forced to choose between what's right and what's necessary. When Kim eventually leaves the Watchers for good, Joe is the one who he keeps in touch with.

\--

For reference: Watcher ranks/specialties/etc

Ranks:

Tribune (member of the Tribunal, referred to as First Tribune, Second Tribune, etc)  
Tribunal Security Chief  
Captain of the Guard (Tribunal Guard)  
Tribunal Guard  
Bureau Coordinator (assumed to be the same as "Regional Coordinator", ex: Western Europe Bureau Coordinator)  
Coordinator (possibly the same as Bureau Coordinator, outranks Area Supervisor)  
Area Supervisor (possibly same as Supervisor?)  
Supervisor (possibly same as Area Supervisor?)  
Regional Secretary  
Regional Security Chief  
Regional Security  
Internal Affairs Investigator   
Investigator  
Special Research (also Special Research Assignment; Research: Special Projects)  
Head Researcher (also Research Head, possibly two different ranks?)  
Field Agent  
Researcher  
Regional Librarian (seems to be based out of regional HQ)  
Area Librarian  
Librarian  
Junior Librarian  
Historian (seems to be entry-level rank for future field agents?)  
Curator   
Professor  
Adjunct Prof   
Instructor (assumed junior to Adj Prof at Academy)

 

Methos is described as "low-level Researcher (Adam Pierson, Assignment: Methos)" even though he holds a specially funded research Chair ???

Area Supervisor is not just a desk job. Dawson is described as "(Area Supervisor/Duncan MacLeod)", as in Area Supervisor, and his assignment is MacLeod. That designation seems to be a shortening of "(Area Supervisor/Seacouver, WA US, assigned to Duncan MacLeod)". Seacouver would then seem to be an "area", possibly part of the US NorthWest Region?

Coordinator is also not only a desk job (?), because Ian Bancroft was watching Darius while also serving as Coordinator. He was also deployed to Vietnam during the same time he was watching Darius, so that's not a ringing endorsement. OTOH, watching Darius couldn't have been very hard...

One of the ranks of "Area Supervisor" or "Coordinator" was formerly known as "Regional Governor". (ca 18th century). "Regional Attache" may also be an antiquated rank (ca 1941).

 

Field agent types:  
Special Ops Agent (from preliminary field report, was put on MacLeod during CAH/R68)  
Temp Military Assignment (Ian Bancroft was assigned Temp Military Assignment: SE Asia, during which time he watched Immortals during Vietnam. During this time, he was also apparently assigned to Darius (1962-1993), and also served as Adjunct Prof at the Watcher Training Academy and Coordinator for the Western Europe Region while watching Darius)  
Special Assignment (used for temporary emergency "need a watcher on that guy right now, and you'll do" assignments. Also used for undercover assignments, like "Seacouver P.D." Probably other things as well)

Seem to otherwise be four main "types" of field agent: assigned, unassigned, mobile, and freelance. Are also some who have been designated as "reserves" (taken from what they're doing and given a different assignment in case of emergency) because they are specialists in certain areas (such as marksmanship, medic, and surveillance).

 

Regions (Bureaus)/Duty stations:  
Africa  
Asia  
Australia  
South America  
Western Europe  
Eastern Europe  
Middle East (also MidEast)  
Central America  
US NorthWest  
US NorthEast  
US SouthWest  
US SouthEast  
SouthEast Asia  
SouthWest Asia  
Watcher Training Academy (Geneva, Switzerland)  
Internal Affairs (appears to be both a special assignment type and an entity of its own)

 

"Region" and "Bureau" seem to be used interchangeably. Appear to be shortcuts of "Regional Bureau".

San Francisco seems to have either in the past been a region or the base of operations in that region and so the site of the "regional office". (ca 1888)

North African and Southern European regions may be antiquated (SE reference is from 1653 and NA is from 1653 and 1917).

"Asia" is referred to as a region in regards to regional coordinators re: Judgement Day. It is split by geography everywhere else.

Regional Coordinators were present during Judgment Day/One Minute To Minute as the jury of Dawson's peers. As Dawson is an "area supervisor", are these then equivalent ranks, or are they just not going to grab a bunch of area supervisors for a mock trial?

 

Branches:  
Special Projects  
Research Special Projects  
Department of Psychology &amp; Counseling  
Department of Personnel  
Research  
Administration

Known "areas":  
Seacouver (part of US NorthWest, Joe Dawson supervisor)  
Ithaca (part of US NorthEast, Ronald Kracowka former supervisor)  
Paris (part of Western Europe)  
London (part of Western Europe)  
New York (part of US NorthEast, Andrew Metcalf supervisor)  
Toronto

Cover operations that seem to be Watcher-run organizations:  
International Asset Corp (HQed in Paris?)  
Joe's Blues Bar (Seacouver)  
Le Blues Bar (Paris)  
Max's Deli (Paris)  
Juniper Street Books (Location?)  
Shakespeare &amp; Co (Paris)

 

Newsletters:

The NorthWest Chronicler (in-house newsletter of the US NorthWest Bureau)  
Der Chronist (newspaper of the Watcher Training Academy)

 

\--

And that's all. :)


End file.
